Identification and phylogenetic classification of eleven putative P-type calcium transport ATPase genes in the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Calcium is an essential second messenger in yeast metabolism and physiology. So far, only four genes coding for calcium translocating ATPases had been discovered in yeast. The recent completion of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome allowed us to identify six new putative Ca(++)-ATPases encoding genes. Protein sequence homology analysis and phylogenetic classification of all putative Ca(++)-ATPase gene products from the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe reveal three clusters of homologous proteins. Two of them comprises seven proteins which might belong to a new class of P-type ATPases of unknown subcellular location and of unknown physiological function.