HomeCalcium signaling is pervasive in biology, signaling changes in developmental states, hormone actions, and environmental stimuli. The interpretation of calcium signals is done in large part through calcium-binding proteins such as Calmodulin (CaM) and CaM-Like (CML) proteins. The genome of the plant Arabidopsis contains 57 CAM and CML sequences. Each of these genes encodes a protein with a possible function similar to that of CaM, including binding of calcium ions, alteration of structure, and binding to targets with the purpose of changing their activity. Because they can have multiple targets, CML proteins have the potential to alter the activities of large sets of proteins following developmental and abiotic stimuli that cause calcium increases.
In an effort to establish physiological functions forCAMs and CMLs, mutations have been identified that would be expected to abolish gene function. By comparing global expression differences between wild-type Arabidopsis plants and cml mutant plants, we observe the molecular consequences of cml loss of function. Once determining the identity of genes that show differences in expression, we can uncover the potential downstream processes that are under regulation of CML function.
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Created by B. Beason (bbeason@rice.edu), Rice University, 14 March 2005
Updated 13 March 2006