The eukaryotic cell is a unique system in which an extremely high number of complex biomolecules and ions are so well organized that they are efficiently utilized in different pathways without interfering between each other, because of separate internal compartments that define different spaces. Nevertheless, these compartments exchange material and information so that the cell's life is a fine-tuned integration of a large numbers of events that have to take into account the outside environment as well. Then, a cell must be able to check and monitor the inside and outside space in order to make the right decision each time it has to. Some of the strategies set up by the cell to solve its problems will be briefly addressed in this paper: high accuracy of fundamental processes, internal organization, specific checkpoints, connections with the outside environment and sensory organelles able to monitor it. By integrating all the cues, the cell will normally end up with the right decision, depending on the situation: to wait and rest or to move, to proliferate and/or differentiate and, in the worse case, to programme its own death.
Camaioni, A. (2004). The world of the cell. In SENSORS AND MICROSYSTEMS, PROCEEDINGS.
The world of the cell
CAMAIONI, ANTONELLA
2004-01-01
Abstract
The eukaryotic cell is a unique system in which an extremely high number of complex biomolecules and ions are so well organized that they are efficiently utilized in different pathways without interfering between each other, because of separate internal compartments that define different spaces. Nevertheless, these compartments exchange material and information so that the cell's life is a fine-tuned integration of a large numbers of events that have to take into account the outside environment as well. Then, a cell must be able to check and monitor the inside and outside space in order to make the right decision each time it has to. Some of the strategies set up by the cell to solve its problems will be briefly addressed in this paper: high accuracy of fundamental processes, internal organization, specific checkpoints, connections with the outside environment and sensory organelles able to monitor it. By integrating all the cues, the cell will normally end up with the right decision, depending on the situation: to wait and rest or to move, to proliferate and/or differentiate and, in the worse case, to programme its own death.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.