The Physiological Laboratory, Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Institute of Translational Medicine, University of Liverpool Liverpool, UK.
Front Mol Neurosci. 2012 Feb 21;5:9. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2012.00009. eCollection 2012 Jan 23.
The mammalian central nervous system (CNS) exhibits a remarkable ability to process, store, and transfer information. Key to these activities is the use of highly regulated and unique patterns of calcium signals encoded by calcium channels and decoded by families of specific calcium-sensing proteins. The largest family of eukaryotic calcium sensors is those related to the small EF-hand containing protein calmodulin (CaM). In order to maximize the usefulness of calcium as a signaling species and to permit the evolution and fine tuning of the mammalian CNS, families of related proteins have arisen that exhibit characteristic calcium binding properties and tissue-, cellular-, and sub-cellular distribution profiles. The Calcium Binding Proteins (CaBPs) represent one such family of vertebrate specific CaM like proteins that have emerged in recent years as important regulators of essential neuronal target proteins. Bioinformatic analyses indicate that the CaBPs consist of two subfamilies and that the ancestral members of these are CaBP1 and CaBP8. The CaBPs have distinct intracellular localizations based on different targeting mechanisms including a novel type-II transmembrane domain in CaBPs 7 and 8 (otherwise known as calneuron II and calneuron I, respectively). Recent work has led to the identification of new target interactions and possible functions for the CaBPs suggesting that they have multiple physiological roles with relevance for the normal functioning of the CNS.
哺乳动物中枢神经系统（CNS）表现出卓越的信息处理、存储和传递能力。这些活动的关键是使用钙通道编码的高度调节和独特的钙信号模式，并由特定的钙感应蛋白家族进行解码。真核生物钙传感器中最大的家族是与含有小 EF 手结构域的钙调蛋白（CaM）相关的那些。为了最大限度地利用钙作为信号物质，并允许哺乳动物中枢神经系统的进化和微调，出现了一系列具有特征性钙结合特性和组织、细胞和亚细胞分布特征的相关蛋白家族。钙结合蛋白（CaBPs）就是这样一种脊椎动物特异性 CaM 样蛋白家族，近年来作为重要的神经元靶蛋白调节剂而出现。生物信息学分析表明，CaBPs 由两个亚家族组成，这些亚家族的祖先是 CaBP1 和 CaBP8。CaBPs 基于不同的靶向机制具有独特的细胞内定位，包括 CaBPs 7 和 8 中的新型 II 型跨膜结构域（分别称为钙神经元 II 和钙神经元 I）。最近的工作导致了对 CaBPs 的新靶标相互作用和可能功能的鉴定，表明它们具有多种与 CNS 正常功能相关的生理作用。
