Cellular Networks
Each cell in every living organism constantly sends molecular messages in response to its environment. These messages form a complex web of information that changes its behavior and the behavior of cells around it. Scientists at Utah State University are tapping into these natural information networks to understand how they impact life sciences and agriculture.
Why this research is important
Cellular network research teaches us about cellular processes that occur when we interact with our environment. Scientists at our Center are discovering how to control and manage these essential processes in plants, animals, and microbes, with the goal to improve and extend the quality of life.
Outcomes of this research provide new strategies for treating disease and increasing our understanding of nutrition and the role of environmental factors. In time, researchers will discover how to prevent and more effectively manage disorders such as mental illness, obesity, eating disorders, and heart disease.
Nutritional scientists are developing new tools to enhance naturally occurring plant processes to maximize crop nutritional content. This means we can improve food production and quality through increasingly natural processes, rather than rely on controversial chemicals to manage food safety.
What are cellular networks?
Cellular networks consist of molecules within cells that interact to produce a molecular message. Cellular messages often consist of changes in chemicals, proteins, and electrical impulses. Cells use these signals to change their structure, their metabolism—and, amazingly, even their genetic structure. These cellular changes give an organism the ability to respond to environmental alterations in a manner that improves rates of survival.
Deciphering biological signals and the resulting cellular changes expands our understanding of the most basic processes that control all living things. This work, alongside other research at the CIB, is creating exciting new scientific opportunities and advances to improve the quality of life.
Scientific Perspective
Cellular signal transduction pathways are macromolecular networks that control metabolism and gene expression. These networks are critical to cell activities because they communicate information from the surface of the cell to the metabolic centers in the cytosol and the nucleus to modify gene expression. For example, in protein networks, individual proteins physically interact with other proteins or indirectly affect the activities of their partner proteins. Characterizing protein networks and how they integrate with other signaling molecules will add significantly to our understanding of human diseases and rational development of new treatment strategies.
Topical Overview
Ion Channel Structure and Function
Investigators at Utah State University are examining how ion channels contribute to nervous and cardiovascular function. Current studies focus on the structure-function relationship of voltage-gated sodium channels, the modulation of voltage-gated calcium channels, and the role of ion channels in chemosensory (taste) transduction. These research areas are overlapping and highly complementary, leading to extensive interactions among the ion channel group.
Protein-Coupled Signaling
Numerous cell-surface receptors are coupled to heterotrimeric G proteins. Utah State University investigators are currently studying the effects of G protein signaling on ion channel function and other cell processes. They are also investigating the ability of RGS (Regulators of G protein Signaling) proteins to influence cellular physiology.
Microbial Interaction
Pathogenic microorganisms are responsible for numerous human diseases. These microbes interact with their target cells in a very specific manner, altering cell signaling and structure. Several laboratories at Utah State University are designing microbial detection systems that rely on the understanding of host cell:pathogen interactions. These studies are a prime example of coupling basic research knowledge with the application of this knowledge into the development of detection systems.
Microbial Physiology
Cell-to-cell signaling and numerous intracellular signaling pathways regulate the metabolism and gene expression of many microbes important to humans. Some of these microbes produce medically important compounds, and others are used to produce foods and beverages. To engineer these microbes for maximum benefit, we must understand how their signaling networks control metabolism. Several investigators at Utah State University are at the forefront of a broad range of microbial physiology research.
Phosphoinositide Signaling
Phosphoinositides are a class of phospholipids that regulate cell growth, cytoskeletal organization, stress signaling, and vesicle-mediated protein trafficking. Some of the longterm goals of cell biology research at Utah State University are to understand when and where different phosphoinositides are synthesized in cells and how phosphoinositide-binding proteins regulate vesiclemediated protein secretion and stress signaling. These studies have direct relevance to pathologic conditions like cancer and heart disease.
Sphingolipid Signaling
Sphingolipids are a class of membrane phospholipids that have cell signaling functions. Research at Utah State University focuses on intraand extracellular second messenger functions of sphingoid bases and ceramides, and participation of sphingolipids in membrane domain formation and structure. A number of enzyme systems that are responsible for these sphingolipid modifications and the roles they play in cells are under investigation. Specific foci include the influences these sphingolipid modifications have on antifungal agent action, stress responses in plants, and cancer.
Plant Stress Signaling
When plants are confronted with an environmental stress, they activate changes in cellular metabolism and gene expression in order to acclimate to the stress. Our goal is to fully understand how plants accomplish intracellular signaling during stress, so that we can genetically alter plants to survive and be more productive under adverse conditions. This will eventually lead to crop production in harsh environments that is not currently possible.