Calcium Signaling

The processes that use or regulate calcium as a biological signal to transmit information or initiate functions such as exocytosis signaling and contraction are highly developed and specialized for the functional needs of a particular tissue. A large number of cellular proteins have developed to recognize or transmit biological calcium signals. Technology has advanced such that it is possible to identify the molecular structure of these proteins and determine particular motifs involved in recognizing and regulating calcium, among other things. One of the major advances has been the recognition that calcium signaling often occurs in the inter-molecular nano-domains surrounding the signaling protein rather than in the global cytoplasmic spaces. This book is organized in five parts. It deals with cardiac and skeletal muscle calcium signaling; the variability in the regulation of calcium channel, both structurally and hormonally; calcium signaling in neurons; the role of mitochondria in calcium signaling; and various other calcium-regulated or calcium-transporting proteins.