Intracellular Ca²⁺ Sensing: Roles from Ca²⁺ Stores to Cytosolic Microdomains

Dear Colleagues,

Intracellular calcium fluxes are integrated by the molecular network as information, thus defined as calcium signals, and participate in the orchestration of multiple cellular processes. The biophysical properties of Ca²⁺ signals (localization, intensity, time modality) encode biological information. In the last several years, genetically modified biosensors and breakthroughs in the resolution of photon microscopes have improved our understanding of functional units within intracellular compartments, defined as micro- or nano-domains. Some of these domains are formed by contact sites between compartments (e.g., mitochondria-associated membranes, plasma-to-ER contract sites) and are especially subject to calcium fluxes, but other domains have also emerged and could promote calcium signals to control their activity.

While calcium signals carry information, the release of calcium content in calcium stores (cellular compartments with a rich Ca²⁺ content at steady state) also create a modification in the equilibrium that can also encode a signal which, in turn, will trigger hidden biological functions. As an example, calsequestrin, the main sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺ binding protein of striated muscle, has a dual function providing a large pool of fast-releasable Ca²⁺ during excitation–contraction coupling and modulating the activity of ryanodine receptors according to the current luminal Ca²⁺ concentration.

This Special Issue will examine the identification of new developments in calcium signaling in microdomains and calcium stores.

Dr. Sylvie Ducreux
Dr. Gabriel Bidaux
Guest Editors

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• calcium channel
• mitochondria and calcium
• sarcoplasmic reticulum and calcium
• mitochondria-associated ER membrane
• calcium signaling
• calcium binding protein
• calcium microdomains