Do you remember playing "tag" as a child?
There's several versions of the game around now. The one I remember playing when I was younger is where someone tags you as "it", which in turn, propels you into immediate action to find your 'target'.
You could just be chilling, standing around, not doing or thinking much.... and suddenly, a push from behind, with a loud "you are it"... ! You can't be just standing around, not doing nothing anymore! You have to find someone, your 'target' and tag them.
Inside our cells, a similar dynamics is in the works all the time. Proteins within cells "tag" other proteins, their targets, with a phosphate molecule, springing the tagged protein into action; this process being called phosphorylation.
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More next time on the 'rhyme & reasons' for phosphorylation of proteins
There's several versions of the game around now. The one I remember playing when I was younger is where someone tags you as "it", which in turn, propels you into immediate action to find your 'target'.
You could just be chilling, standing around, not doing or thinking much.... and suddenly, a push from behind, with a loud "you are it"... ! You can't be just standing around, not doing nothing anymore! You have to find someone, your 'target' and tag them.
Inside our cells, a similar dynamics is in the works all the time. Proteins within cells "tag" other proteins, their targets, with a phosphate molecule, springing the tagged protein into action; this process being called phosphorylation.
***
More next time on the 'rhyme & reasons' for phosphorylation of proteins
