Mike and Molly just dropped a clear, test-focused breakdown of G protein coupled receptors that covers everything the AAMC expects you to know without the textbook overwhelm.
Here's what we walk through:
🔬 The full signaling cascade: signal → receptor → transduction → amplification → response → termination
🧬 GPCR structure and how G proteins actually get activated (GDP → GTP swap)
🚀 Gs pathway: adenylyl cyclase → cAMP → PKA → phosphorylation
🛑 Gi pathway: how it inhibits the same cascade
🧩 Gq pathway: PLC, calcium signaling, and second messengers
📈 Why amplification is the whole point — small signal, massive cellular response
⏱️ How your cells know when to shut it all off
👁️ Plus a vision callback showing GPCRs in phototransduction
We even hit a classic passage-style example (cholera toxin) to show you how the AAMC actually tests cause-and-effect in these pathways.
Next episode: smell & taste and how these senses are built on GPCR signaling 👃
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