Cells respond to their environment by taking cues from hormones or other chemical signals in the surrounding medium. The interaction of these extracellular chemical signals (first messengers) with receptors on the cell surface often leads to the production of second messengers inside the cell, which in turn lead to adaptive changes in the cell interior (Chapter 22). Often, the second messenger is a nucleotide.One of the most common second messengers is the nucleotide adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic AMP, or cAMP), formed from ATP in a reaction catalyzed by adenylate cyclase, associated with the inner face of the plasma membrane. Cyclic AMP serves regulatory functions in virtually every cell outside the plant kingdom, and these are described in detail in Chapter 22. Guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) occurs in many cells and also has regulatory functions.Another regulatory nucleotide, ppGpp, is produced in bacteria in response to the slowdown in protein synthesis that occurs during amino acid starvation. This nucleotide inhibits the synthesis of the rRNA and tRNA molecules (Chapter 27) needed for protein synthesis, preventing the unnecessary production of nucleic acids.
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