Calcium specific sites

The calcium sites in troponin C have been studied by X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES).244 In all four cases, Ca2+ appears to be coordinated to carboxylate and carbonyl groups, and no structural differences could be found between the two classes of sites. Binding of Mg2+ causes a distortion of the geometry of the calcium site. Thus, the reduced affinity for Ca2+ of the Ca2+-Mg2+ sites in the presence of Mg2+ may not simply be due to competition with Mg2+, but due to some conformational change induced at these sites by Mg2+. The similarity of all four Ca2+ sites means that local bonding effects do not explain the inability of Mg2+ to bind to the calcium-specific sites I and II. The XANES of parvalbumin differs from that of troponin C. 

In summary, it may be that binding of calcium (or magnesium) to the Ca2+-Mg2+ sites controls and stabilizes the structure of troponin c,245,246 and that the binding of calcium to the calcium-specific sites causes more localized structural changes which serve to trigger muscle contraction. 

An ionophore is a compound that is capable of selectively carrying ions across a membrane. The ion fits into a specific binding site in a molecule that is hydrophobic enough to cross the membrane. There are calcium-specific ionophores, proton ionophores, sodium ionophores, etc. 

During the last ten years, it has become apparent that calcium-dependent papain-like peptidases called calpains (EC 3.4.22.17) represent an important intracellular nonlysosomal enzyme system [35][36], These enzymes show limited proteolytic activity at neutral pH and are present in virtually every eukaryotic cell type. They have been found to function in specific proteolytic events that alter intracellular metabolism and structure, rather than in general turnover of intracellular proteins. Calpains are composed of two nonidentical subunits, each of which contains functional calcium-binding sites. Two types of calpains, i.e., /i-calpain and m-calpain (formerly calpain I and calpain II, respectively), have been identified that differ in their Ca2+ requirement for activation. The activity of calpains is regulated by intracellular Ca2+ levels. At elevated cytoplasmic calcium concentrations, the precursor procal-pain associates with the inner surface of the cell membrane. This interaction seems to trigger autoproteolysis of procalpain, and active calpain is released into the cytoplasm [37]. 

The presence of calcium in horseradish peroxidase was demonstrated originally by Haschke and Friedhoff, working with the C and A (imspec-ified, but likely to have been predominantly A2) isoenzymes (209). HRP C and HRP A contain 2.0 0.13 and 1.4 0.19 moles calcium per mole enzyme, respectively, as determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Incubation in 6 M guanidinium hydrochloride and 10 mM EDTA for 4 hours at neutral pH and room temperature gave calcium-depleted enzymes with specific activities decreased by 40% and 15%, respectively. The thermal stability of calcium-depleted HRP C was also reduced compared to native enzyme. Reconstitution was successful only with calcium-depleted HRP C (209). It remains to be established whether this reflects true structural differences between the calcium binding sites of the two isoenz5unes, or is a consequence of the relatively harsh... 

Snyder, E. E., Buoscio, B. W., and Falke, J. J. (1990). Calcium(II) site specificity Effect of size and charge on metal ion binding to an EF-hand-like site. Biochemistry 29, 3937-3943. 

Calcium, in contrast to magnesium, does not have an important function as an enzyme activator, in accord with its different distribution. It is very important, however, in the control and triggering of biological processes such as muscle contraction and the release of various chemicals, including hormones, defence chemicals and neurotransmitters. This occurs when, in response to some stimulus, the normal selectivity of the cell membrane or the membranes of internal organelles breaks down, and calcium ions are allowed to enter the cell. These bind to specific sites and trigger certain reactions. 

Troponin C from rabbit skeletal and bovine cardiac muscle has a molecular weight of about 18 000. Skeletal TN-C has four sites for Ca2+. Two of these (III and IV) are high affinity sites (K < 107 dm3 mol-1) which also bind Mg2+ competitively, with K = 103 dm3 mol-1. The remaining two (I and II) appear to be specific for Ca2+, although of lower affinity (K 105 dm3 mol-1).234 These two sites are the only sites in calcium-binding proteins that do not bind Mg2+ with constants in the range 102-103 dm3 mol-1. Cardiac TN-C contains two Ca2+-Mg2+ sites, one Ca2+-specific site and one low affinity site for Ca2+, in which the two aspartate residues in the skeletal TN-C protein are replaced by leucine and alanine residues.235... 

Redesign of Ca fMg Specificity. Proteins in the calmodulin superfamily (including troponin C, parvalbumin (PV) and oncomodulin (OM)) share similar overall structure and yet have different selectivity for Ca and Mg see Calcium-binding Proteins, Cation-activated Enzymes). For example, PV and OM have four helix-tum-helix domains, two of which contain mixed Ca /Mg sites and two Ca -specific sites. The mixed Ca /Mg sites have been converted to Ca -specific sites by replacing amino acids with the corresponding residues in the Ca -specific site. " ... 

Mafias PM, Morals J, Coelho R, Carrondo MA, Wilson K, Dauter Z, et al. Cytochrome C3 from Desulfovibrio gigas crystal structure at 1.8 A resolution and evidence for a specific calcium binding site. Protein Sci. 1996 5 1342-1354. 

Presence of divalent Specific site binding of calcium i... 

---