Finding their way home: Different ways that cell messengers reach their destination
Cell communication contains various methods in order for its messengers to reach their target cells for both eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms.
In bacterial cells, we know that they use quorum sensing (QS) as a form of cell communication. This method of communication mirrors how hormones are used in eukaryotic cells. A strand of E. Coli that uses QS was actually found to be able to communicate with eukaryotic cells (Sperandio, 2003). The fact that it can replicate the shapes of our hormones in order to infiltrate our cells shows how advanced bacteria can adapt in order to survive.
However, hormones in some species have been found to work around the specificity for a certain cell. In certain rat ovarian granulosa cells and mouse myocardial cells, it was discovered that hormones for a certain cell were able to reach their target through an unrelated cell and their intercellular communication (Lawrence, 1978). The non-target cell and target cell communicated through a mediator that brought the hormones to the target cell.
In long distance cell communication, it was found that exosomes are a mediator that assist different messengers (Bang, 2012). Exosomes are vesicles that can carry a variety of objects. It was found they could also carry proteins, messenger RNAs and microRNAs. And since exosomes are secreted by a variety of cell types, they can be mediators for all different kinds of pathways and communications between the many cells of the body.
Plant cells also have its own way of long distance communication. Similar to the human body and its circulatory system, plants have phloem transport tubes that connect the most distant organs of plants (Kehr, 2007). The messengers that plants use include RNAs that correspond with physiological processes that are crucial to the plant. The RNA can be translated to important proteins that help the plant function and protect itself.
An example of the phloem tubes in plants. This representation shows how sugar molecules and water travel through the plant cells. (Boundless)
References
Sperandio, V., A. G. Torres, B. Jarvis, J. P. Nataro, and J. B. Kaper. “Bacteria-host Communication: The Language of Hormones.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100.15 (2003): 8951-956.
Lawrence, Theodore S., William H. Beers, and Norton B. Gilula. “Transmission of Hormonal Stimulation by Cell-to-cell Communication.” Nature 272.5653 (1978): 501-06.
Bang, Claudia, and Thomas Thum. “Exosomes: New Players in Cellâcell Communication.” The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology 44.11 (2012): 2060-064.
Kehr, J., and A. Buhtz. “Long Distance Transport and Movement of RNA through the Phloem.” Journal of Experimental Botany 59.1 (2007): 85-92.
“Transportation of Photosynthates in the Phloem.” Image: Translocation to the Sink. Boundless, n.d.
