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Visualizing Calcium Signaling

After many years of investigation, recent work has finally identified some of the key proteins involved in the almost ubiquitous process of store-operated calcium entry into cells. These proteins, a putative plasma membrane calcium channel named Orai and an endoplasmic reticulum calcium sensor named STIM, are currently the subject of much investigation.

Orai1 interacts with a protein complex that bulges into the cytoplasm.

In this Paper of the Week, Péter Várnai and colleagues make two important contributions to this area of research. Firstly, they describe a novel technological approach to both visualize and modify the contact sites that form between the plasma membrane and endoplasmic reticulum, thus allowing real-time and single-cell studies of the activation and termination of store-operated calcium entry. Secondly, using these tools, the authors have obtained evidence that there are additional components involved in the formation and function of the complex that forms between Orai1 and STIM1. Thus, this paper introduces new concepts and approaches to the study of a key component of calcium signaling.

FOOTNOTES

See referenced article, J. Biol. Chem. 2007, 282, 29678-29690

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