Abstract
Living organisms receive and respond to a variety of chemicals and energy stimuli, and these interactions influence differentiation and regulate sexual activities. Well-characterized examples include responses of coelenterates to peptide morphogens (Chapter 5) and of haploid yeast cells to sexual pheromones (Chapter 9). In the developing embryo as in developing microbial systems, cell migration and elongation may be governed by chemotactic processes (Chapters 1, 2, and 4). Bioelectric stimuli also play an important role in developmental processes. Examples include the development of cell polarity and tissue regeneration, as discussed in Chapter 2, and fertilization of sea urchin eggs (Chapter 10). Thus, it is crucial to an understanding of differentiation that the mechanisms of chemoreception and electrical signal transmission be elucidated. In this chapter we discuss chemotactic and mechanotactic processes in Gram-negative bacteria and selected eukaryotic microorganisms.
Only the day dawns
to which we are awake
Henry David Thoreau
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© 1984 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
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Saier, M.H., Jacobson, G.R. (1984). Mechanisms of Chemoreception, Electrical Signal Transduction, and Biological Response. In: The Molecular Basis of Sex and Differentiation. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5260-3_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5260-3_8
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