title: Insights into the early evolution of animal calcium signaling machinery: a unicellular point of view.
abstract: The basic principles of Ca(2+) regulation emerged early in prokaryotes. Ca(2+) signaling acquired more extensive and varied functions when life evolved into multicellular eukaryotes with intracellular organelles. Animals, fungi and plants display differences in the mechanisms that control cytosolic Ca(2+) concentrations. The aim of this review is to examine recent findings from comparative genomics of Ca(2+) signaling molecules in close unicellular relatives of animals and in common unicellular ancestors of animals and fungi. Also discussed are the evolution and origins of the sperm-specific CatSper channel complex, cation/Ca(2+) exchangers and four-domain voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels. Newly identified evolutionary evidence suggests that the distinct Ca(2+) signaling machineries in animals, plants and fungi likely originated from an ancient Ca(2+) signaling machinery prior to early eukaryotic radiation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA. Electronic address: caixinj@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Xinjiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA.
authors.forename: Xiangbing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Sandip
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Clapham
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology*; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000378:metabolism*; D005658:Fungi / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*
keywords: Animals; Calcium channels; Calcium signaling; Choanoflagellates; Evolution; Genomics