Cell surface transmembrane receptors often form nanometer- to micrometer-scale clusters to initiate signal transduction in response to environmental cues. Extracellular ligand oligomerization, domain-domain interactions, and binding to multivalent proteins all contribute to cluster formation. Here we review the current understanding of mechanisms driving cluster formation in a series of representative receptor systems: glycosylated receptors, immune receptors, cell adhesion receptors, Wnt receptors, and receptor tyrosine kinases. We suggest that these clusters share properties of systems that undergo liquid-liquid phase separation and could be investigated in this light.

中文翻译：

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通过相分离调节跨膜信号。

细胞表面跨膜受体通常形成纳米级至微米级簇，以响应环境信号而启动信号转导。细胞外配体的寡聚，域-域相互作用以及与多价蛋白质的结合都有助于簇的形成。在这里，我们回顾了目前在一系列代表性受体系统中驱动簇形成的机制的认识：糖基化受体，免疫受体，细胞粘附受体，Wnt受体和酪氨酸激酶。我们建议这些簇共享经历液-液相分离的系统的属性，可以据此进行研究。