Question

A student claims the phosphorylation cascade is not a necessary function of the signal transduction pathway in determining if a cellular response will occur. Is the student correct? Justify your response with a specific scientific example.

Answer 1

The student is wrong. Phosphorylation cascade is important in cell signaling. Most cell signaling involves cyclic AMP (synthesized from ATP). The cAMP activates Protein Kinases (PKA) that phosphorylates protein substrates involved in the signaling pathways such as the GPCR. This helps in amplifying the initial signal.