Cell signalling is part of a complex system of communication that governs basic cellular activities and coordinates the actions of cells. Although cell signalling research has traditionally focused on the study of linear signalling cascades, it has become increasingly clear that there is considerable crosstalk between individual signalling pathways. This is not surprising, given that cells must simultaneously integrate multiple signals to regulate a complex set of cellular processes. To this end, there has been an important shift towards the study of signalling networks, which enables researchers to determine the effects of a single cellular change on a multitude of key signalling pathways. Increasing our knowledge of how signals are integrated into cellular networks is crucial to our understanding of normal cell behaviour and disease mechanisms. Furthermore, given that targeting a specific protein with any drug will have implications for the signalling network as a whole, understanding signal integration will provide valuable information towards the design of more effective therapeutics.
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology and Nature Structural & Molecular Biology have teamed up to present an in-depth joint Focus on Signal Integration, with specially commissioned Reviews in each journal. These articles consider some of the key approaches used to study signalling networks, and discuss how various signals are integrated in different cellular contexts. The NPG library contains other relevant articles, including Reviews, on the broad topic of signal integration.
EDITORIAL
ESSAY
COMMENTARY
Enhanced interrogation: emerging strategies for cell signaling inhibition
Rong Huang, Isabel Martinez-Ferrando & Philip A Cole
doi:10.1038/nsmb0610-646
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 17, 646-649 (2010)
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Cell signalling: Making new connections
doi:10.1038/nrm2909
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 11, 386
Cell signalling: Of Rags and Ragulator
doi:10.1038/nrm2907
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 11, 388
JOURNAL CLUB
REVIEWS
Signal integration through blending, bolstering and bifurcating of intracellular information
Catherine T Pawson and John D Scott
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1843
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Designing customized cell signalling circuits
Wendell A. Lim
doi:10.1038/nrm2904
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
When pathways collide: collaboration and connivance among signalling proteins in development
Helen McNeill and James R. Woodgett
doi:10.1038/nrm2902
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
Molecular mechanisms in signal transduction at the membrane
Jay T. Groves and John Kuriyan
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1844
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Signalling ballet in space and time
Boris N. Kholodenko, John F. Hancock and Walter Kolch
doi:10.1038/nrm2901
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
Decoding signalling networks by mass spectrometry-based proteomics
Chunaram Choudhary and Matthias Mann
doi:10.1038/nrm2900
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
Post-translational modifications in signal integration
Yonathan Lissanu Deribe, Tony Pawson and Ivan Dikic
doi:10.1038/nsmb.1842
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
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