title: Roles of calmodulin and calmodulin-binding proteins in synaptic vesicle recycling during regulated exocytosis at submicromolar Ca2+ concentrations.
abstract: Calcium ion is required at various concentrations for vesicular recycling in the presynaptic terminal. Although calmodulin (CaM) is the most abundant Ca2+-binding protein and has a submicromolar affinity for Ca2+, it is not the Ca2+ sensor for vesicular fusion because this process requires Ca2+ concentrations above 1 microM. Several lines of evidence, however, suggest that CaM mediates the regulation of vesicular recycling by submicromolar Ca2+ via novel protein-protein interactions. In this review, we discuss recent findings on how CaM regulates synaptic vesicle recycling by controlling the SNARE mechanism, which is the molecular machinery that mediates exocytosis.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, 1-757 Asahi-Machi, Niigata 951-8510, Japan. tarokaja@med.niigata-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Michihiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Igarashi
authors.forename: Michitoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002147:Calmodulin / Q000502:physiology*; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D005089:Exocytosis / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D013572:Synaptic Vesicles / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D002147:Calmodulin; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins; D002118:Calcium