Section of Molecular Medicine, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
J Cell Sci. 2010 Feb 1;123(Pt 3):309-20. doi: 10.1242/jcs.061739.
Signalling molecules integrate, codify and transport information in cells. Organisation of these molecules in complexes and clusters improves the efficiency, fidelity and robustness of cellular signalling. Here, we summarise current views on how signalling molecules assemble into macromolecular complexes and clusters and how they use their physical properties to transduce environmental information into a variety of cellular processes. In addition, we discuss recent innovations in live-cell imaging at the sub-micrometer scale and the challenges of object (particle) tracking, both of which help us to observe signalling complexes and clusters and to examine their dynamic character.
信号分子在细胞内整合、编码和传递信息。这些分子在复合物和聚集体中的组织提高了细胞信号转导的效率、保真度和鲁棒性。在这里，我们总结了目前关于信号分子如何组装成大分子复合物和聚集体以及它们如何利用其物理性质将环境信息转导为多种细胞过程的观点。此外，我们还讨论了亚微米尺度活细胞成像的最新创新以及目标（粒子）跟踪的挑战，这些都有助于我们观察信号复合物和聚集体，并研究它们的动态特性。
