Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Viewpoint
  • Published:

Signalling change: signal transduction through the decades

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 14, pages 393–398 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The past few years have marked significant anniversaries in signal transduction, including the identification of classic growth factors and morphogens, the notion of protein modification through phosphorylation and the characterization of protein interaction domains. Here, six researchers reflect on the context in which these discoveries were made, and how our concept of cell signalling has evolved during the past three decades.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Downward, J. et al. Close similarity of epidermal growth factor receptor and v-erb-B oncogene protein sequences. Nature 307, 521–527 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Sadowski, I., Stone, J. C. & Pawson, T. A noncatalytic domain conserved among cytoplasmic protein-tyrosine kinases modifies the kinase function and transforming activity of Fujinami sarcoma virus P130gag–fps. Mol. Cell. Biol. 6, 4396–4408 (1986).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Mayer, B. J., Hamaguchi, M. & Hanafusa, H. A novel viral oncogene with structural similarity to phospholipase C. Nature 332, 272–275 (1988).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Eckhart, W., Hutchinson, M. A. & Hunter, T. An activity phosphorylating tyrosine in polyoma T antigen immunoprecipitates. Cell 18, 925–933 (1979).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Brugge, J. S. & Erikson, R. L. Identification of a transformation-specific antigen induced by an avian sarcoma virus. Nature 269, 346–348 (1977).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Collett, M. S., Purchio, A. F. & Erikson, R. L. Avian sarcoma virus transforming protin, pp60src, shows protein kinase activity specific for tyrosine. Nature 285, 167–169 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Hunter, T. & Sefton, B. M. The transforming gene product of Rous sarcoma virus phosphorylates tyrosine. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 77, 1311–1315 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Levinson, A. D., Opperman, H., Varmus, H. E. & Bishop, J. M. The purified product of the transforming gene of avain sarcoma virus phosphorylates tyrosine. J. Biol. Chem. 255, 11973–11980 (1980).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Levi-Motalcini, R. The nerve growth factor 35 years later. Science 237, 1154–1162 (1987).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cohen, S. EGF and its receptor: historical perspective. J. Mammary Gland Biol. Neoplasia 2, 93–96 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Nüsslein-Volhard, C., & Wieschaus, E., Mutations affecting segment number and polarity in Drosophila. Nature 287, 795–801 (1980).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Poulikakos, P. I., Zhang, C., Bollag, G., Shokat, K. M. & Rosen, N. RAF inhibitors transactivate RAF dimers and ERK signalling in cells with wild-type BRAF. Nature 464, 427–430 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Traverse, S., Gomez, N., Paterson, H., Marshall, C. & Cohen, P. Sustained activation of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase cascade may be required for differentiation of PC12 cells. Comparison of the effects of nerve growth factor and epidermal growth factor. Biochem. J. 288, 351–355 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Frank-Kamenetsky, M. et al. Small-molecule modulators of Hedgehog signaling: identification and characterization of Smoothened agonists and antagonists. J. Biol. 1, 10 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The laboratory of N.E.H is supported by the Novartis Research Foundation. W.A.L. acknowledges support from the Howard Hughes Medical Insitute and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) (P50 GM081879). Work by J.M. on signal transduction was supported by NCI grant CA34610. Work in the laboratory of T.P is supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Terry Fox Foundation, Genome Canada and the Ontarion Research Fund.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nancy E. Hynes is at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Maulbeerstrasse 66, 4058 Basel, Switzerland, and at the University of Basel, Petersplatz 1, 4003 Basel, Switzerland. nancy.hynes@fmi.ch,

    Nancy E. Hynes

  2. Philip W. Ingham is at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, 61 Biopolis Drive, Proteos, Singapore 138673. pingham@imcb.a-star.edu.sg,

    Philip W. Ingham

  3. at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Wendell A. Lim is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 600 16th Street, University of California San Francisco, California 94158, USA. lim@cmp.ucsf.edu,

    Wendell A. Lim

  4. Christopher J. Marshall is at the Institute of Cancer Research, 237 Fulham Road, London, SW3 6JB, United Kingdom. chris.marshall@icr.ac.uk,

    Christopher J. Marshall

  5. Joan Massagué is at the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA, and at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815, USA. massaguj@mskcc.org,

    Joan Massagué

  6. and at the Department of Molecular Genetics, Tony Pawson is at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, 600 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X5, Canada, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada. pawson@lunenfeld.ca,

    Tony Pawson

Authors
  1. Nancy E. Hynes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Philip W. Ingham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wendell A. Lim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Christopher J. Marshall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Joan Massagué
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Tony Pawson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

Philip W. Ingham has a minor shareholding in Curis, Inc. Nancy E. Hynes, Wendell A. Lim, Christopher J. Marshall, Joan Massagué and Tony Pawson declare no competing financial interests.

Related links

Related links

FURTHER INFORMATION

Nancy E. Hyness's homepage

Philip W. Ingham's homepage

Wendell A. Lim's homepage

Christopher J. Marshall's homepage

Joan Massagué's homepage

Tony Pawson's homepage

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hynes, N., Ingham, P., Lim, W. et al. Signalling change: signal transduction through the decades. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 14, 393–398 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3581

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3581

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing