Elsevier

Cell Calcium

Volume 25, Issue 3, March 1999, Pages 247-264
Cell Calcium

Research
Molecular properties of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors

https://doi.org/10.1054/ceca.1999.0021Get rights and content

Abstract

The receptors for the second messenger inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) constitute a family of Ca2+channels responsible for the mobilization of intracellular Ca2+stores. Three different gene products (types I–III) have been isolated, encoding polypeptides which assemble as large tetrameric structures. Recent molecular studies have advanced our knowledge about the structure, regulation and function of IP3receptors. For example, several Ca2+-binding sites and a Ca2+-calmodulin-binding domain have been mapped within the type I IP3receptor, and studies on purified cerebellar IP3receptors propose a second Ca2+-independent calmodulin-binding domain. In addition, minimal requirements for the binding of immunophilins and the formation of tetramers have been identified. Overexpression of IP3receptors has provided further clues to the regulation of individual IP3receptor isoforms present within cells, and the role that they play in the generation of IP3-dependent Ca2+signals. Inhibition of IP3receptor function and expression, and analysis of mutant IP3receptors, suggests that IP3receptors are involved in such diverse cellular processes as proliferation and apoptosis and are thus, necessary for normal development. Our understanding of the complex spatial and temporal nature of cytosolic Ca2+increases and the role that these Ca2+signals play in cell function depend upon our knowledge of the structure and the regulation of IP3receptors. This review focuses on the molecular properties of these ubiquitous intracellular Ca2+channels.

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Correspondence to: Dr Sandip Patel, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Medical Sciences Building, rm H648, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ 07103, USA Tel.: +1 (973) 972 1142; fax: +1 (973) 972 7950; e-mail: [email protected]

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