A Scaffold Switch to Insulate

摘要

A fundamental aspect of normal physiology is that cellular signal transduction pathways activated by specific stimuli should lead to appropriate responses. But signaling proteins may function in more than one pathway. How then does specificity arise? How is improper crosstalk avoided? Molecules that can tether signaling proteins in a spatially restricted manner represent one possible mechanism. Such scaffolds may act as insulators that maintain the fidelity of signaling by physically sequestering proteins into distinct pools.