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Calcium cycling induced by the SERCA2b–RyR2 pathway in beige fat cells allows for thermogenic activity independent of UCP1. Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) plays a central role in nonshivering thermogenesis in brown fat; however, its role in beige fat remains unclear. Here we report a robust UCP1-independent thermogenic mechanism in beige fat that involves enhanced ATP-dependent Ca 2+ cycling by sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ -ATPase 2b (SERCA2b) and ryanodine receptor 2 (RyR2). Inhibition of SERCA2b impairs UCP1-independent beige fat thermogenesis in humans and mice as well as in pigs, a species that lacks a functional UCP1 protein. Conversely, enhanced Ca 2+ cycling by activation of α1- and/or β3-adrenergic receptors or the SERCA2b–RyR2 pathway stimulates UCP1-independent thermogenesis in beige adipocytes. In the absence of UCP1, beige fat dynamically expends glucose through enhanced glycolysis, tricarboxylic acid metabolism and pyruvate dehydrogenase activity for ATP-dependent thermogenesis through the SERCA2b pathway; beige fat thereby functions as a 'glucose sink' and improves glucose tolerance independently of body weight loss. Our study uncovers a noncanonical thermogenic mechanism through which beige fat controls whole-body energy homeostasis via Ca 2+ cycling.

Cytosolic calcium signaling is critical for regulating downstream responses in plants encountering unfavorable environmental conditions. In a genetic screen for Arabidopsis thaliana mutants defective in stress-induced cytosolic free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]cyt) elevations, we identified the R2R3-MYB transcription factor MYB30 as a regulator of [Ca2+]cyt in response to H2O2 and heat stresses. Plants lacking MYB30 protein exhibited greater elevation of [Ca2+]cyt in response to oxidative and heat stimuli. Real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results indicated that the expression of a number of ANNEXIN (ANN) genes, which encode Ca2+-regulated membrane-binding proteins modulating cytosolic calcium signatures, were upregulated in myb30 mutants. Further analysis showed that MYB30 bound to the promoters of ANN1 and ANN4 and repressed their expression. myb30 mutants were sensitive to methyl viologen (MV) and heat stresses. The H2O2- and heat-induced abnormal [Ca2+]cyt in myb30 was dependent on the function of ANN proteins. Moreover, the MV and heat sensitivity of myb30 was suppressed in mutants lacking ANN function or by application of LaCl3, a calcium channel blocker. These results indicate that MYB30 regulates oxidative and heat stress responses through calcium signaling, which is at least partially mediated by ANN1 and ANN4.

Calcium (Ca2+) is a major second messenger in cells and is essential for the fate and survival of all higher organisms. Different Ca2+ channels, pumps, or exchangers regulate variations in the duration and levels of intracellular Ca2+, which may be transient or sustained. These changes are then decoded by an elaborate toolkit of Ca2+-sensors, which translate Ca2+ signal to intracellular operational cell machinery, thereby regulating numerous Ca2+-dependent physiological processes. Alterations to Ca2+ homoeostasis and signaling are often deleterious and are associated with certain pathological states, including cancer. Altered Ca2+ transmission has been implicated in a variety of processes fundamental for the uncontrolled proliferation and invasiveness of tumor cells and other processes important for cancer progression, such as the development of resistance to cancer therapies. Here, we review what is known about Ca2+ signaling and how this fundamental second messenger regulates life and death decisions in the context of cancer, with particular attention directed to cell proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy. We also explore the intersections of Ca2+ and the therapeutic targeting of cancer cells, summarizing the therapeutic opportunities for Ca2+ signal modulators to improve the effectiveness of current anticancer therapies.

Mitochondria-associated membranes (MAMs) are central microdomains that fine-tune bioenergetics by the local transfer of calcium from the endoplasmic reticulum to the mitochondrial matrix. Here, we report an unexpected function of the endoplasmic reticulum stress transducer IRE1α as a structural determinant of MAMs that controls mitochondrial calcium uptake. IRE1α deficiency resulted in marked alterations in mitochondrial physiology and energy metabolism under resting conditions. IRE1α determined the distribution of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors at MAMs by operating as a scaffold. Using mutagenesis analysis, we separated the housekeeping activity of IRE1α at MAMs from its canonical role in the unfolded protein response. These observations were validated in vivo in the liver of IRE1α conditional knockout mice, revealing broad implications for cellular metabolism. Our results support an alternative function of IRE1α in orchestrating the communication between the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria to sustain bioenergetics. Carreras-Sureda et al. uncover a non-canonical role for IRE1α as a scaffold that stabilizes InsP 3 Rs at MAMs to control calcium uptake, fine-tunes ER–mitochondrial communication and regulates energy metabolism via AMPK.

Antiapoptotic Bcl-2-family members are well known for their ‘mitochondrial’ functions as critical neutralizers of proapoptotic Bcl-2-family members, including the executioner multidomain proteins Bax and Bak and the BH3-only proteins. It has been clear for more than 20 years that Bcl-2 proteins can impact intracellular Ca 2+ homeostasis and dynamics. Moreover, altered Ca 2+ signaling is increasingly linked to oncogenic behavior. Specifically targeting the Ca 2+ -signaling machinery may thus prove to be a valuable strategy for cancer treatment. Over 10 years ago a major controversy was recognized concerning whether or not Bcl-2 proteins exerted their antiapoptotic functions via Ca 2+ signaling through lowering the filling state of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca 2+ stores or by suppressing Ca 2+ release from the ER without affecting the filling state of this Ca 2+ store. Further research from different laboratories indicated a wide variety of mechanisms by which Bcl-2-family members can impact Ca 2+ signaling. In this review, we propose that antiapoptotic Bcl-2-family members are multimodal regulators of intracellular Ca 2+ -signaling events in cell survival and cell death. We will discuss how different Bcl-2-family members impact cell survival and cell death by regulating Ca 2+ transport systems at the ER, mitochondria and plasma membrane and by impacting the organization of organelles and how these insights can be exploited for causing cell death in cancer cells. Finally, we propose that the existing controversy reflects the diversity of links between Bcl-2 proteins and Ca 2+ signaling, as certainly not all targets or mechanisms will be operative in every cell type and every condition.

Here, the authors present an approach for the simultaneous optogenetic manipulation and recording of neural activity at cellular resolution using two-photon microscopy and apply their strategy in the mouse barrel cortex. We describe an all-optical strategy for simultaneously manipulating and recording the activity of multiple neurons with cellular resolution in vivo. We performed simultaneous two-photon optogenetic activation and calcium imaging by coexpression of a red-shifted opsin and a genetically encoded calcium indicator. A spatial light modulator allows tens of user-selected neurons to be targeted for spatiotemporally precise concurrent optogenetic activation, while simultaneous fast calcium imaging provides high-resolution network-wide readout of the manipulation with negligible optical cross-talk. Proof-of-principle experiments in mouse barrel cortex demonstrate interrogation of the same neuronal population during different behavioral states and targeting of neuronal ensembles based on their functional signature. This approach extends the optogenetic toolkit beyond the specificity obtained with genetic or viral approaches, enabling high-throughput, flexible and long-term optical interrogation of functionally defined neural circuits with single-cell and single-spike resolution in the mouse brain in vivo.

Their sessile lifestyle means that plants have to be exquisitely sensitive to their environment, integrating many signals to appropriate developmental and physiological responses. Stimuli ranging from wounding and pathogen attack to the distribution of water and nutrients in the soil are frequently presented in a localized manner but responses are often elicited throughout the plant. Such systemic signaling is thought to operate through the redistribution of a host of chemical regulators including peptides, RNAs, ions, metabolites, and hormones. However, there are hints of a much more rapid communication network that has been proposed to involve signals ranging from action and system potentials to reactive oxygen species. We now show that plants also possess a rapid stress signaling system based on Ca ²⁺ waves that propagate through the plant at rates of up to ∼400 µm/s. In the case of local salt stress to the Arabidopsis thaliana root, Ca ²⁺ wave propagation is channeled through the cortex and endodermal cell layers and this movement is dependent on the vacuolar ion channel TPC1. We also provide evidence that the Ca ²⁺ wave/TPC1 system likely elicits systemic molecular responses in target organs and may contribute to whole-plant stress tolerance. These results suggest that, although plants do not have a nervous system, they do possess a sensory network that uses ion fluxes moving through defined cell types to rapidly transmit information between distant sites within the organism.

Signaling through the store-operated Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channel regulates critical cellular functions, including gene expression, cell growth and differentiation, and Ca2+ homeostasis. Loss-of-function mutations in the CRAC channel pore-forming protein ORAI1 or the Ca2+ sensing protein stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) result in severe immune dysfunction and nonprogressive myopathy. Here, we identify gain-of-function mutations in the cytoplasmic domain of STIM1 (p.R304W) associated with thrombocytopenia, bleeding diathesis, miosis, and tubular myopathy in patients with Stormorken syndrome, and in ORAI1 (p.P245L), associated with a Stormorken-like syndrome of congenital miosis and tubular aggregate myopathy but without hematological abnormalities. Heterologous expression of STIM1 p.R304W results in constitutive activation of the CRAC channel in vitro, and spontaneous bleeding accompanied by reduced numbers of thrombocytes in zebrafish embryos, recapitulating key aspects of Stormorken syndrome. p.P245L in ORAI1 does not make a constitutively active CRAC channel, but suppresses the slow Ca2+-dependent inactivation of the CRAC channel, thus also functioning as a gain-of-function mutation. These data expand our understanding of the phenotypic spectrum of dysregulated CRAC channel signaling, advance our knowledge of the molecular function of the CRAC channel, and suggest new therapies aiming at attenuating store-operated Ca2+ entry in the treatment of patients with Stormorken syndrome and related pathologic conditions.

In the last decade, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) has emerged as a central organelle regulating the core mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. At the ER membrane, a variety of stress signals are integrated toward determining cell fate, involving a complex cross talk between key homeostatic pathways including the unfolded protein response, autophagy, calcium signaling and mitochondrial bioenergetics. In this context, key regulators of cell death of the BCL-2 and TMBIM/BI-1 family of proteins have relevant functions as stress rheostats mediated by the formation of distinct protein complexes that regulate the switch between adaptive and proapoptotic phases under stress. Here, we overview recent advances on our molecular understanding of how the apoptotic machinery integrates stress signals toward cell fate decisions upstream of the mitochondrial gateway of death.

Michael Duchen, Francesco Muntoni, Eamonn Sheridan and colleagues show that loss-of-function mutations in MICU1 cause a recessive disorder characterized by proximal myopathy, learning difficulties and progressive extrapyramidal motor deficits. The mutations alter mitochondrial calcium homeostasis, leading to mitochondrial damage and dysfunction. Mitochondrial Ca 2+ uptake has key roles in cell life and death. Physiological Ca 2+ signaling regulates aerobic metabolism, whereas pathological Ca 2+ overload triggers cell death. Mitochondrial Ca 2+ uptake is mediated by the Ca 2+ uniporter complex in the inner mitochondrial membrane 1 , 2 , which comprises MCU, a Ca 2+ -selective ion channel, and its regulator, MICU1. Here we report mutations of MICU1 in individuals with a disease phenotype characterized by proximal myopathy, learning difficulties and a progressive extrapyramidal movement disorder. In fibroblasts from subjects with MICU1 mutations, agonist-induced mitochondrial Ca 2+ uptake at low cytosolic Ca 2+ concentrations was increased, and cytosolic Ca 2+ signals were reduced. Although resting mitochondrial membrane potential was unchanged in MICU1-deficient cells, the mitochondrial network was severely fragmented. Whereas the pathophysiology of muscular dystrophy 3 and the core myopathies 4 involves abnormal mitochondrial Ca 2+ handling, the phenotype associated with MICU1 deficiency is caused by a primary defect in mitochondrial Ca 2+ signaling, demonstrating the crucial role of mitochondrial Ca 2+ uptake in humans.