title: Calmodulin-binding domains in Alzheimer's disease proteins: extending the calcium hypothesis.
abstract: The calcium hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) invokes the disruption of calcium signaling as the underlying cause of neuronal dysfunction and ultimately apoptosis. As a primary calcium signal transducer, calmodulin (CaM) responds to cytosolic calcium fluxes by binding to and regulating the activity of target CaM-binding proteins (CaMBPs). Ca(2+)-dependent CaMBPs primarily contain domains (CaMBDs) that can be classified into motifs based upon variations on the basic amphiphilic alpha-helix domain involving conserved hydrophobic residues at positions 1-10, 1-14 or 1-16. In contrast, an IQ or IQ-like domain often mediates Ca(2+)-independent CaM-binding. Based on these attributes, a search for CaMBDs reveals that many of the proteins intimately linked to AD may be calmodulin-binding proteins, opening new avenues for research on this devastating disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd., Mississauga, Ont., Canada L5L 1C6. doday@utm.utoronto.ca
authors.forename: Danton H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: O'Day
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Myre
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D002118:Calcium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D002147:Calmodulin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D002147:Calmodulin; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins; D002118:Calcium