The principle advantage of a cascade mechanism in signal transduction is that one molecule of a ligand can affect many intracellular proteins without crossing the plasma membrane.

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In a cascade mechanism, the signal is amplified at each step, which allows one ligand molecule to stimulate a large number of downstream proteins. This is possible because the intracellular proteins involved in the cascade are usually enzymes, which can catalyze reactions that produce many product molecules from a single substrate molecule. Therefore, the cascade mechanism allows for efficient and rapid transmission of signals without the need for a large amount of ligand molecules to cross the plasma membrane.

The Principle Advantage of a Cascade Mechanism in Signal Transduction