Why do most cell-surface receptors use long, indirect signaling cascades to influence gene transcription.?

Question

gene transcription in the nucleus.

Answer 1

This is an immense field, and would require far more time than I can spare. The *very* short answer is to provide flexibility. Most pathways interact with other pathways in various ways and the longer the pathways are, the more ways there are for this to happen.

See:

Answer 2

Flexibility is one answer, regulation is another. But the point of most cascades is amplification. Because the stimulus outside of the cell is often tiny, the signaling cascades are in place in order to get a noticeable response. Or in the case of blood clotting, a fast and large response. Note this is a simplified answer to an enormously complex and intriguing field. Hope you keep interested.

Answer 3

The problem with this is several fold. First you have to define liberal. An american "liberal" is a french conservative. Second People find themselves at various differnt points of the political spectrum on various issues and identify themselves based on the issues that are important to them. In addition there is the problem of identifying which gene variation goes with which behavior. And that's not even getting into the emerging fields of gene expression and cooperative genes. Lastly I will say that "politically liberal" in this country, or "politically conservative" have absolutely nothing to do with being liberal or conservative.