Channeling into cell control
Friday, January 20, 2012 - 10:00
in Biology & Nature
A research team from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Wako, Japan, has visualized and accurately modeled the molecular changes that open and close the internal membrane channels for calcium ions within cells. The ions moving through these channels act as intracellular messengers, relaying information that regulates the activity of the proteins that control many critical processes of life and deathfrom fertilization through to development, metabolism and, ultimately, death.