title: Calcium in ciliated protozoa: sources, regulation, and calcium-regulated cell functions.
abstract: In ciliates, a variety of processes are regulated by Ca2+, e.g., exocytosis, endocytosis, ciliary beat, cell contraction, and nuclear migration. Differential microdomain regulation may occur by activation of specific channels in different cell regions (e.g., voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels in cilia), by local, nonpropagated activation of subplasmalemmal Ca stores (alveolar sacs), by different sensitivity thresholds, and eventually by interplay with additional second messengers (cilia). During stimulus-secretion coupling, Ca2+ as the only known second messenger operates at approximately 5 microM, whereby mobilization from alveolar sacs is superimposed by "store-operated Ca2+ influx" (SOC), to drive exocytotic and endocytotic membrane fusion. (Content discharge requires binding of extracellular Ca2+ to some secretory proteins.) Ca2+ homeostasis is reestablished by binding to cytosolic Ca2+-binding proteins (e.g., calmodulin), by sequestration into mitochondria (perhaps by Ca2+ uniporter) and into endoplasmic reticulum and alveolar sacs (with a SERCA-type pump), and by extrusion via a plasmalemmal Ca2+ pump and a Na+/Ca2+ exchanger. Comparison of free vs total concentration, [Ca2+] vs [Ca], during activation, using time-resolved fluorochrome analysis and X-ray microanalysis, respectively, reveals that altogether activation requires a calcium flux that is orders of magnitude larger than that expected from the [Ca2+] actually required for local activation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Plattner
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Klauke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002923:Cilia / Q000378:metabolism; D016798:Ciliophora / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D003285:Contractile Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004705:Endocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D005089:Exocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D006056:Golgi Apparatus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D022142:Secretory Vesicles / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D003285:Contractile Proteins; D007473:Ion Channels; D002118:Calcium