Question

Many signaling pathways have multiple transducer proteins, for example in a multi-enzyme phosphorylation cascade - one of the purposes for this is: _________.
a. to prevent damage to the receptor protein
b. to amplify the signal
c. all choices are correct
d. to avoid gene duplication
e. to conserve ATP and/or GTP

Answer 1

Answer:

b. to amplify the signal

Explanation:

A multi-enzyme phosphorylation cascade is a series of signaling events where one enzyme phosphorylates to another, then this last enzyme acts to phosphorylate another protein and so successively, thereby triggering a chain reaction that leads to the phosphorylation of hundreds or even thousands of proteins. A multi-enzyme phosphorylation cascade is known to increase the number of activated (phosphorylated) proteins at each step of the signaling cascade. Phosphorylation is a posttranslational modification capable of activating proteins during long periods, thereby a phosphorylation cascade also enables the activation of multiple proteins before these proteins become inactive again.