How to understand and outwit adaptation.
Adaptation is the ability of a system to respond and reset itself even in the continuing presence of a stimulus. On one hand, adaptation is a physiological necessity that enables proper neuronal signaling and cell movement. On the other hand, adaptation can be a source of annoyance, as it can make biological systems resistant to experimental perturbations. Here we speculate where adaptation might live in eukaryotic chemotaxis and how it can be encoded in the signaling network. We then discuss tools and strategies that can be used to both understand and outwit adaptation in a wide range of cellular contexts.
Cardiovascular Research Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158 USA.
Oliver
O
Hoeller
Cardiovascular Research Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158 USA.
Delquin
D
Gong
Cardiovascular Research Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158 USA.
Orion D
OD
Weiner
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000502:physiology*; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D015398:Signal Transduction