Case Study No.

2
-Brittyn Hill
-Kara Lahman
-Ashley Williams
-Eden Hazira Hussin-Biswas

1. What are the essential parts of a signaling pathway?

- Signal, Receptor, Signaling Molecule and Effectors.
2. How could activating a transcription factor cause long-term cellular changes?
- Long-term cellular changes are generally the result of changes that alter DNA
transcription.
3. What roles can phosphorylation play in protein function?
- Phosphorylation of amino acids can alter the behavior of certain proteins by changing
their enzymatic activity, changing their interaction with other proteins, or changing their
location within the cell.

4. What is the enzymatic activity of a kinase and of a phosphatase?

- Kinases phosphorylate and phosphatase dephosphorylate.

5. What determines where a protein kinase or protein phosphatase will perform its enzymatic
activity?
- Amino acids at the site of phosphorylation will determine if protein kinase or protein
phosphatase will conduct an enzymatic activity.
6. Why would a signaling pathway need to be regulated?
- A signaling pathway would need to be regulated to ensure that the signaling is not
excessive and to ensure that signaling stops when needed. This maintains homeostasis
with the body.
7. Hypothesize some situations where it would be necessary for signal transduction to happen
very rapidly, as happens after the activation of either a kinase cascade or a second-messenger
pathway
- Situations in which signal transduction might occur rapidly include:
- Muscle contraction and relaxation
- Insulin
- The breakdown of glycogen
- Cell proliferation
- Cholera toxin
- Cellular apoptosis.

1. How could the study of insulin signaling help people with diabetes?
- The study would be conducive for patients with diabetes because it would allow the
patients to be more cautious as to what is causing the insulin to be produced at a rapid
pace.

2. Why does it make sense that Mia’s grandfather may be more fatigued than a non-diabetic?
 - Mia’s grandfather is more fatigued because he is diabetic and cannot break down
glucose. The inability to break down glucose leads to the buildup of glucose. During this
process, his cells start using more protein which leads to ketoacidosis. The fatigue is
generated by these two processes.
3. Examine the figure of insulin signaling. Why does one receptor have so many different signal
transduction proteins/pathways?
- One receptor can have different signal pathways because different pathways have
different effects. For example, a short term effect in insulin pathway is the fusion of
vesicles to the cell membrane to allow the transport of glucose into the cell. An example
of a long term effect is the activation of the protein kinase cascade which leads to the
activation of these transcription.
4. How does a lack of insulin prevent the cell from using glucose?
- The lack of insulin prevents the cell from using glucose because if there is not any
insulin to bind to any insulin receptors then the cell cannot take in glucose. The glucose
outside the cell will not be transported into the cell if insulin is lacking.

5. Why is it important that specific tissues respond to insulin in different ways?

- Specific tissues may respond to insulin differently due to DNA composition because
DNA encoding for insulin receptors is expressed differently in tissues. This ensures that
each tissue receives the amount of insulin that it needs.

6. Hypothesize a mechanism to explain how tissues respond to insulin in different ways, even
tissues that have the same amount of the receptor
- Two different tissues with the same amount of receptors. In one tissue, the binding of
insulin leads to the uptake of glucose, a short-term effect. In the other tissue, the binding
of insulin leads to kidney failure, a long-term effect.

1. What is the general purpose of feedback inhibition? What is the problem if feedback inhibition
happens when it isn’t supposed to?
- The general purpose of feedback inhibition is to deactivate the enzymatic activity of a
protein by binding its product to the active site. If feedback inhibition happens when it
isn't supposed to happen, the problem is that products of a pathway can be made in
excess or in an insufficient amount.
2. How do the effects of insulin resistance compound to decrease cellular responses to insulin?
- Insulin resistance decreases cellular responses to insulin by a decrease in insulin
receptor kinase activity whenever insulin binds to the receptors. Also a decrease in the
affinity of signaling molecules for the receptors (because of less phosphorylation on the
cytoplasmic domains on the receptor and feedback inhibition), and a faulty kinase
cascade that might not be activated properly as well as a malfunctioning second
messenger signaling pathway.
3. Hypothesize a mechanism by which the GLUT4 transporter’s fusion to the cell membrane
could be decreased.
- An overstimulation by insulin signaling molecules (such as in type II diabetes) can distort
the response to insulin receptors. A distorted response will lead to a changed
 intracellular signaling pathway. With this alteration, less GLUT4-bound vesicles will bind
to the cell membrane, leading to a decrease amount of glucose intake by the cell.

4. Consider the possible projects that Mia could study.

a. Which project would you pick?
- Diabetes and Insulin Signaling
b. Why do you think this project is important?
- In order for Mia to understand the other projects, it is imperative that she understands
the basis of insulin signaling and its effect with diabetes. This project also educates Mia
on what is occurring in diabetic patients, such as her grandfather. Her instructor advised
her to note the different parts of the pathway and its effects which provides more
educational information for her study of choice.

c. What kind of experiments would you do?

- I would conduct experiments that would be beneficial for my undergraduate career. I’d
like to focus on the effects of diabetes and study habits amongst college students.
Another interesting experiment would be the effects of underproduction of insulin on
various organs within a certain age group.