Platelets harbors all most all the receptors like nucleated cells though there is no genome in platelets yet platelets show signal specific response . how could they achieve that ? reports suggest that though there is no genome there is mRNA and that get translated, but platelets life span is 4-9 days roughly during this time it is likely to receive multiple signaling inputs yet they respond specific right. how do they achieve it .
Platelets major task is to plug the wholes in the vasculature, and for that they must be able to respond to a variety of signals emanating from the damaged artery or vein indicating it needs to attach, change shape and release a host of proteins in response to the triggers. The sensors are the receptors on the surface of the platelet, and there are many. GPIb, GPIIb, CLEC2, GPVI, P2Y, etc., etc. - the list goes on and on. There is an orderly sequence to that madness that directs both outside-in and inside-out pathways ultimately changing the properties of integrins making them stickier via complex conformational changes. There are a lot of reviews out there explaining it all, many are easily available via pubmed:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
It is complicated, in other words. But we've made significant progress in the past decade in understanding that complexity. The details are still being worked out and you can read up on it if curious enough.
Good luck!
Vadim
While they have no genome, platelets do contain mRNA but the response to injury isn't as straightforward as it seems. Many different factors affect platelet responses in haemostasis, including shear forces in the blood, stiffness of the vascular endothelium, and even mRNA levels.
There's an interesting paper showing that platelet aggregation in response to low doses of an agonist is affected by the levels of VAMP-8 mRNA (involved in granule secretion) as well as the levels of a miRNA which inhibits translation of VAMP-8:
Article VAMP8/endobrevin is overexpressed in hyperreactive human pla...