The Molecular Mechanisms of Mitochondrial Calcium Ion Channel, Calcium Uniporter

The Molecular Characterization of the Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter

The Molecular Characterization of the Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter

Calcium Signaling: Double Duty for Calcium at the Mitochondrial Uniporter

Uptake of Ca(2+) by mitochondria serves as a regulator of a number of important cellular functions, including energy metabolism, cytoplasmic Ca(2+) signals, and apoptosis. Recent findings reveal that the process of Ca(2+) uptake by the mitochondrial uniporter is itself regulated by Ca(2+) in a temporally complex manner.

Ion and inhibitor binding of the double-ring ion selectivity filter of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter.

The calcium (Ca2+) uniporter of mitochondria is a holocomplex consisting of the Ca2+-conducting channel, known as mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU), and several accessory and regulatory components. A previous electrophysiology study found that the uniporter has high Ca2+ selectivity and conductance and this depends critically on the conserved amino acid sequence motif, DXXE (Asp-X-X-Glu) of...

Mitochondrial calcium uniporter, MiRNA and cancer

Mitochondria receive calcium (Ca(2+)) signals from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and decode them into pro-apoptotic inputs, which lead to cell death. Therefore, mitochondrial Ca(2+) overload is considered a fundamental trigger of the apoptotic process, and several oncogenes and tumor suppressors modify the activity of protein involved in Ca(2+) homeostasis to control apoptosis. The identification ...