Choreographing endo-lysosomal Ca throughout the life of a phagosome.

The emergence of endo-lysosomes as ubiquitous Ca stores with their unique cohort of channels has resulted in their being implicated in a growing number of processes in an ever-increasing number of cell types. The architectural and regulatory constraints of these acidic Ca stores distinguishes them from other larger Ca sources such as the ER and influx across the plasma membrane. In view of recent advances in the understanding of the modes of operation, we discuss phagocytosis as a template for how endo-lysosomal Ca signals (generated via TPC and TRPML channels) can be integrated in multiple sophisticated ways into biological processes. Phagocytosis illustrates how different endo-lysosomal Ca signals drive different phases of a process, and how these can be altered by disease or infection.