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The functions of Ca2+ in bacteria: a role for EF-hand proteins?

2002; Elsevier BV; Volume: 10; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0966-842x(01)02284-3

1878-4380

Jan Michiels, Chuanwu Xi, Jan Verhaert, Jos Vanderleyden,

Machine Learning in Bioinformatics

Abstract In bacteria, Ca 2+ is implicated in a wide variety of cellular processes, including the cell cycle and cell division. Dedicated influx and efflux systems tightly control the low cytoplasmic Ca 2+ levels in prokaryotes. Additionally, the growing number of proteins containing various Ca 2+ -binding motifs supports the importance of Ca 2+ , which controls various protein functions by affecting protein stability, enzymatic activity or signal transduction. The existence of calmodulin-like proteins (containing EF-hand motifs) in bacteria is a long-standing hypothesis. Analysis of the prokaryotic protein sequences available in the databases has revealed the presence of several calmodulin-like proteins containing two or more authentic EF-hand motifs, suggesting that calmodulin-like proteins could be involved in Ca 2+ regulation in bacteria.