Calmodulin (CaM) is phosphorylated in vitro and in vivo by multiple protein-serine/threonine and protein-tyrosine kinases. Casein kinase II and myosin light-chain kinase are two of the well established protein-serine/threonine kinases implicated in this process. On the other hand, within the protein-tyrosine kinases involved in the phosphorylation of CaM are receptors with tyrosine kinase activity, such as the insulin receptor and the epidermal growth factor receptor, and nonreceptor protein-tyrosine kinases, such as several members of the Src family kinases, Janus kinase 2, and p38Syk. The phosphorylation of CaM brings important physiological consequences for the cell as the diverse phosphocalmodulin species have differential actions as compared to nonphosphorylated CaM when acting on different CaM-dependent systems. In this review we will summarize the progress made on this topic as the first report on phosphorylation of CaM was published almost two decades ago. We will emphasize the description of the phosphorylation events mediated by the different protein kinases not only in the test tube but in intact cells, the phosphorylation-mediated changes of CaM activity, its action on CaM-dependent systems, and the functional repercussion of these phosphorylation processes in the physiology of the cell.Keywords: calmodulin; calmodulin-dependent systems; cellular signalling; phosphocalmodulin; protein kinases; phosphoprotein phosphatases.
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Calmodulin as a Ca 2+ sensorThe average cytosolic concentration of free Ca 2+ in resting cells ranges from 20 to 50 nM, reaching values close to 1 lM when the cell is stimulated by a variety of physiological stimuli, while in the extracellular milieu this concentration is about 1 mM. This large concentration gradient allows intracellular Ca 2+ to work as an useful second messenger [1,2]. The cytosolic Ca 2+ concentration is exquisitely regulated by the operation of transport systems responsible for its increase, represented by different types of Ca 2+ channels and Na + (H + )/Ca 2+ exchangers located in the plasma membrane, the endo(sarco)plasmic reticulum, and/or the mitochondria; and extrusion transport systems represented by Ca 2+ -ATPases located in both the plasma membrane and the endo(sarco)plasmic reticulum, and the Na + /Ca 2+ exchanger also located within the plasma membrane [1,3]. The operation of theses transporters gives rise to oscillations in the concentration of Ca 2+ not only in the cytosol but in the nucleus and intracellular organelles [1,4,5]. It has been possible to observe in living cells inhomogeneities in these transient changes inCorrespondence to A. Villalobo, Instituto de Investigaciones Biome´dicas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientı´ficas and Universidad Auto´noma de Madrid, Arturo Duperier 4, E-28029 Madrid, Spain. E-mail: antonio.villalobo@iib.uam.es Abbreviations: AdeCycl, adenylate cyclase; CaM, calmodulin; CaM-BD, calmodulin-binding domain; CaMPK-II, calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II; CK-II, casein kinase II; CKR,...