Calcium signaling is involved in diverse cellular processes in fungi

Avishek Roy; Ajeet Kumar; Darshana Baruah; Ranjan Tamuli

doi:10.1080/21501203.2020.1785962

Calcium signaling is involved in diverse cellular processes in fungi

Mycology. 2020 Jul 14;12(1):10-24. doi: 10.1080/21501203.2020.1785962.

Authors

Avishek Roy¹, Ajeet Kumar¹, Darshana Baruah¹, Ranjan Tamuli¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India.

Abstract

Calcium (Ca²⁺) is a universal signalling molecule of life. The Ca²⁺ signalling is an evolutionarily conserved process from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. Ca²⁺ at high concentration is deleterious to the cell; therefore, cell maintains a low resting level of intracellular free Ca²⁺ concentration ([Ca²⁺]_c). The resting [Ca²⁺]_c is tightly regulated, and a transient increase of the [Ca²⁺]_c initiates a signalling cascade in the cell. Ca²⁺ signalling plays an essential role in various processes, including growth, development, reproduction, tolerance to stress conditions, and virulence in fungi. In this review, we describe the evolutionary aspects of Ca²⁺ signalling and cell functions of major Ca²⁺ signalling proteins in different fungi.

Keywords: Ca2+ transporter; Calcium signalling; calcineurin-Crz1 pathway; calmodulin and NCS-1; fungi; phospholipase.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development [Research Fellowships to AR, AK, and DB].