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MBE Advance Access published online on April 2, 2008
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msn077
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Research Article

Unicellular Ca2+ Signaling ‘Toolkit’ at the Origin of Metazoa

Xinjiang Cai*,1

Departments of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710 USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: Xinjiang Cai, MD/PhD, BOX 3187, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA, Tel: (919) 684-6876. Fax: (919) 684-6870. Email: xinjiang.cai{at}duke.edu

Received for publication January 22, 2008. Revision received March 18, 2008. Accepted for publication March 27, 2008.

Ca2+ signaling pathways control many physiological processes in almost all types of animal cells such as fertilization, muscle contraction, hormone release, and learning and memory. Each animal cell type expresses a unique group of molecules from the Ca2+ signaling ‘toolkit’ to control spatiotemporal patterns of Ca2+ signaling. It is generally believed that the complex Ca2+ signaling ‘toolkit’ has arisen from the ancestral multicellular organisms to fit unique physiological roles of specialized cell types. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the presence of an extensive Ca2+ signaling ‘toolkit’ in the unicellular choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis. Choanoflagellates possess homologues of various types of animal plasma membrane Ca2+ channels including the store-operated channel, ligand-operated channels, voltage-operated channels, second messenger-operated channels, and five out of six animal TRP channel families. Choanoflagellates also contain homologues of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors. Furthermore, choanoflagellates master a complete set of Ca2+ removal systems including plasma membrane and sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPases and homologues of three animal cation/Ca2+ exchanger families. Therefore, a complex Ca2+ signaling ‘toolkit’ might have evolved before the emergence of multicellular animals.

Key Words: Ca2+ signaling • Ca2+ channels • choanoflagellate • evolution • Metazoa • multicellularity

1 Present address: Departments of Medicine (Cardiology) and Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA


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