Eur J Pharmacol. 2013 Nov 28. pii: S0014-2999(13)00886-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2013.11.015. [Epub ahead of print]

Intracellular Calcium Channels in Protozoa

Docampo R, Moreno SN, Plattner H.

Source

Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases and Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, GA 30606, USA. Electronic address: rdocampo@uga.edu.

Abstract

Ca²⁺-signaling pathways and intracellular Ca²⁺ channels are present in protozoa. Ancient origin of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (IP₃Rs) and other intracellular channels predates the divergence of animals and fungi as evidenced by their presence in the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis, the closest known relative to metazoans. The first protozoan IP₃R cloned, from the ciliate Paramecium, displays strong sequence similarity to the rat type 3 IP₃R. This ciliate has a large number of IP₃- and ryanodine(Ry)-like receptors in 6 subfamilies suggesting the evolutionary adaptation to local requirements for an expanding diversification of vesicle trafficking. IP₃Rs have also been functionally characterized in trypanosomatids, where they are essential for growth, differentiation, and establishment of infection. The presence of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) in a number of protozoa indicates that mitochondrial regulation of Ca²⁺ signaling is also an early appearance in evolution, and contributed to the discovery of the molecular nature of this channel in mammalian cells. There is only sequence evidence for the occurrence of two-pore channels (TPCs), transient receptor potential Ca²⁺ channels (TRPCs) and intracellular mechanosensitive Ca²⁺-channels in Paramecium and in parasitic protozoa.
© 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.

KEYWORDS:

Calcium channels, Mitochondrial calcium uniporter, Paramecium, Protozoa, Toxoplasma, Trypanosoma

PMID:

24291099

[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]