To do its job as a signal transducer, an enzyme-coupled receptor has to switch on the enzyme activity of its intracellular domain (or of an associated enzyme) when an external signal molecule binds to its extracellular domain.
B.
Unlike GPCRs, enzyme-coupled receptor proteins usually have only one transmembrane segment, which spans the lipid bilayer as a single α helix. Because a single α helix is poorly suited to transmit a conformational change across the bilayer, enzyme-coupled receptors have a different strategy for transducing the extracellular signal.
C.
In many cases, the binding of an extracellular signal molecule causes two receptor molecules to come together in the plasma membrane, forming a dimer. This pairing brings the two intracellular tails of the receptors together and activates their kinase domains, such that each receptor tail phosphorylates the other.
D.
In the case of RTKs, the phosphorylations occur on specific tyrosines.