Unlocking The Lock And Key Mechanism That Governs Our Body’s Cellular Functions.
The idea of a lock and key mechanism was borne out of a need for security. We have valuables to safeguard. We have private issues that we don’t want to make public. We keep them locked up and hidden away. However, we do have keys to unlock those locks and gain access to our private stashes.
In the same way, a lot of the cells in our body communicate on a lock and key mechanism, which we can collectively term as “cell signalling”. Our cells have receptors on their surfaces, and specific biochemicals can bind to those receptors to signal them to do something.
For example, our cells possess insulin receptors. Insulin is produced by the beta cells in the pancreas when we consume food, and it then binds to the insulin receptor on the cell to signal the cell to take in glucose from the blood. In this situation, the presence of insulin unlocks the cell’s ability to take in glucose from the blood. Insulin stays in the insulin receptor for a specific period of time, which we call the residence time. After that period of residence, it disassociates from the receptor, which then reduces the cell’s ability to take in any more glucose from the blood.
Some enzymes also function on the lock and key mechanism. The enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA)…
