4

Is it possible that the falling of the concentration of a protein below a threshold triggers the release or production of another protein?

WYSIWYG
  • 35,564
  • 9
  • 67
  • 154
Peter123
  • 173
  • 5
  • 1
    Welcome to SE Biology. Your question is very broad. You need to provide some context — is this a homework question or do you have a specific system in mind? Why are you asking this question and what attempts have you made to solve it yourself. See "How do I ask a good question". Oh, and please spell-check your titles at least. I'll correct this one. – David Aug 07 '16 at 21:02
  • 2
    A: Yes. There are too many examples to list. – James Aug 19 '16 at 03:53

1 Answers1

2

Of course, that is possible. I'll give a simple example. If your protein (X) is an inhibitor of the other protein (Y), then when X falls, Y will rise. This would not really be "thresholded".

There are many mechanisms that can lead to thresholding which include co-operativity (in the action of X) and positive feedbacks. How these mechanisms work would be a different question altogether. (A quick read would be this wikipedia article).

WYSIWYG
  • 35,564
  • 9
  • 67
  • 154
  • Thank you very much. I'm a physicist and I'm interested in how axons can regulate its length. In a model I'm dealing with, the concrentration of a protein falls below a threshold when the axon reaches a distinct length. The question is if this falling below the threshold can stop the axon from growing. – Peter123 Aug 08 '16 at 20:53
  • @Peter123 As I mentioned above, it is possible. If you are asking an example of what those proteins X and Y may be in case of axon growth then I think you should do that literature mining yourself. There may be several examples. Check out a review on this topic. – WYSIWYG Aug 09 '16 at 05:42