[Frontiers in Bioscience 14, 1851-1856, January 1, 2009]

Ca2+-sensitive transcriptional regulation: direct DNA interaction by DREAM

Sherry Sours-Brothers1, Rong Ma1, Peter Koulen2,3,4

1Department of Integrative Physiology, 2Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, 3North Texas Eye Research Institute, 4Institute for Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Research, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Influence of Ca2+-dependent kinases and phosphatases
4. Direct transcriptional regulation by Ca2+-sensitive downstream regulatory element antagonistic modulator
5. Ca2+binding to DREAM results in derepression of DRE
6. Downstream effects of DREAM regulated gene expression
7. Non-transcriptional activity of DREAM
8. Discussion
9. References

1. ABSTRACT

Calcium is a major regulator of cell function, acting as a second messenger to relay signals from the cell surface to other parts of the cell. It plays an integral role in contraction of muscle cells and it regulates cell growth and proliferation, as well as cell death (1). The present review will discuss how Ca2+ mediates these functions through the regulation of gene expression. This can be accomplished by Ca2+-sensitive protein kinases as well as phosphatases which activate transcription factors. It can also be mediated by direct interaction of Ca2+-sensitive proteins with regulatory elements within the DNA sequence itself. Special attention will be given to recent advances in research in the down-stream regulatory element (DRE) and its Ca2+-sensitive modulator DREAM (downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator; also named calsenilin or K+ channel interacting protein 3 (KChIP3)) (2).