Cells are equipped with sensors that recognize touch and respond accordingly. They can even reach out to other cells with nanoscopic tunnels and share parts. An article yesterday for Evolution News about allostery showed how an individual protein or RNA can send information to its distant domains. Information sharing can also occur between chains of molecules arranged in a signaling cascade, where each one triggers action in the next. This is a bit more like the Rube Goldberg technique, except that in cells, it is much more logical and reliable. Here are new examples of mechanosensing (the ability to sense a touch) and mechanotransduction (the ability to pass on touch information). A paper on bioRxiv explains, “Cells sense the physical properties of their environment, translate them into biochemical signals and Read More ›
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