Caldesmon Explained

Caldesmon is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CALD1 gene.^{[1] [2]}

Caldesmon is a calmodulin binding protein. Like calponin, caldesmon tonically inhibits the ATPase activity of myosin in smooth muscle.

This gene encodes a calmodulin- and actin-binding protein that plays an essential role in the regulation of smooth muscle and nonmuscle contraction. The conserved domain of this protein possesses the binding activities to

Ca ^{2+} -calmodulin, actin, tropomyosin, myosin, and phospholipids. This protein is a potent inhibitor of the actin-tropomyosin activated myosin MgATPase, and serves as a mediating factor for Ca ^{2+} -dependent inhibition of smooth muscle contraction. Alternative splicing of this gene results in multiple transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms.

Immunochemistry

In diagnostic immunochemistry, caldesmon is a marker for smooth muscle differentiation.

Further reading

• Huber PA . Caldesmon . Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biol. . 29 . 8–9 . 1047–51 . 1998 . 9415999 . 10.1016/S1357-2725(97)00004-6 .
• Gusev NB . Some properties of caldesmon and calponin and the participation of these proteins in regulation of smooth muscle contraction and cytoskeleton formation . Biochemistry Mosc. . 66 . 10 . 1112–21 . 2002 . 11736632 . 10.1023/A:1012480829618 . 310781 .
• Wang CL . Caldesmon and smooth-muscle regulation . Cell Biochem. Biophys. . 35 . 3 . 275–88 . 2002 . 11894847 . 10.1385/CBB:35:3:275 . 195271255 .
• Mani RS, McCubbin WD, Kay CM . Calcium-dependent regulation of caldesmon by an 11-kDa smooth muscle calcium-binding protein, caltropin . Biochemistry . 31 . 47 . 11896–901 . 1992 . 1445920 . 10.1021/bi00162a031 .
• Hayashi K . Genomic structure of the human caldesmon gene . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 89 . 24 . 12122–6 . 1993 . 1465449 . 10.1073/pnas.89.24.12122 . 50710 . vanc. Yano H . Hashida T . 3 . Takeuchi . R . Takeda . O . Asada . K . Takahashi . E . Kato . I . Sobue . K . free .
• Humphrey MB . Cloning of cDNAs encoding human caldesmons . Gene . 112 . 2 . 197–204 . 1992 . 1555769 . 10.1016/0378-1119(92)90376-Z . vanc. Herrera-Sosa H . Gonzalez G . 3 . Lee . Robyn . Bryan . Joseph .
• Adam LP, Gapinski CJ, Hathaway DR . Phosphorylation sequences in h-caldesmon from phorbol ester-stimulated canine aortas . FEBS Lett. . 302 . 3 . 223–6 . 1992 . 1601129 . 10.1016/0014-5793(92)80446-N . 46129878 . free .
• Horiuchi KY, Chacko S . Interaction between caldesmon and tropomyosin in the presence and absence of smooth muscle actin . Biochemistry . 27 . 22 . 8388–93 . 1989 . 3242591 . 10.1021/bi00422a014 .
• der Terrossian E, Deprette C, Lebbar I, Cassoly R . Purification and characterization of erythrocyte caldesmon. Hypothesis for an actin-linked regulation of a contractile activity in the red blood cell membrane . Eur. J. Biochem. . 219 . 1–2 . 503–11 . 1994 . 8307018 . 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1994.tb19965.x . free .
• Surgucheva I, Bryan J . Over-expression of smooth muscle caldesmon in mouse fibroblasts . Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton . 32 . 3 . 233–43 . 1996 . 8581978 . 10.1002/cm.970320307 .
• Bonaldo MF, Lennon G, Soares MB . Normalization and subtraction: two approaches to facilitate gene discovery . Genome Res. . 6 . 9 . 791–806 . 1997 . 8889548 . 10.1101/gr.6.9.791 . free .
• Graether SP . Tryptophan residues in caldesmon are major determinants for calmodulin binding . Biochemistry . 36 . 2 . 364–9 . 1997 . 9003189 . 10.1021/bi962008k . vanc. Heinonen TY . Raharjo WH . 3 . Jin . Jian-Ping . Mak . Alan S. .
• Wang Z, Danielsen AJ, Maihle NJ, McManus MJ . Tyrosine phosphorylation of caldesmon is required for binding to the Shc.Grb2 complex . J. Biol. Chem. . 274 . 47 . 33807–13 . 1999 . 10559276 . 10.1074/jbc.274.47.33807 . free .
• Adam L . Regulation of microfilament reorganization and invasiveness of breast cancer cells by kinase dead p21-activated kinase-1 . J. Biol. Chem. . 275 . 16 . 12041–50 . 2000 . 10766836 . 10.1074/jbc.275.16.12041 . vanc. Vadlamudi R . Mandal M . 3 . Chernoff . J . Kumar . R . free.
• Hall SM, Hislop AA, Pierce CM, Haworth SG . Prenatal origins of human intrapulmonary arteries: formation and smooth muscle maturation . Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. . 23 . 2 . 194–203 . 2000 . 10919986 . 10.1165/ajrcmb.23.2.3975.
• Nimmrich I . Seven genes that are differentially transcribed in colorectal tumor cell lines . Cancer Lett. . 160 . 1 . 37–43 . 2000 . 11098082 . 10.1016/S0304-3835(00)00553-X . vanc. Erdmann S . Melchers U . 3 . Finke . Ulrich . Hentsch . Sebastian . Moyer . Mary Pat . Hoffmann . Ingrid . Müller . Oliver .
• Hisaoka M . Specific but variable expression of h-caldesmon in leiomyosarcomas: an immunohistochemical reassessment of a novel myogenic marker . Appl. Immunohistochem. Mol. Morphol. . 9 . 4 . 302–8 . 2003 . 11759055 . 10.1097/00022744-200112000-00003 . vanc. Wei-Qi S . Jian W . 3 . Morio . Takashi . Hashimoto . Hiroshi . 25653139 .
• Sobue K, Muramoto Y, Fujita M, Kakiuchi S . Purification of a calmodulin-binding protein from chicken gizzard that interacts with F-actin . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 78 . 9 . 5652–5 . Sep 1981 . 10.1073/pnas.78.9.5652. 6946503 . 348816. 1981PNAS...78.5652S . free .

Notes and References

1. Novy RE, Lin JL, Lin JJ . Characterization of cDNA clones encoding a human fibroblast caldesmon isoform and analysis of caldesmon expression in normal and transformed cells . J Biol Chem . 266 . 25 . 16917–24 . Oct 1991 . 10.1016/S0021-9258(18)55390-4 . 1885618 . free .
2. Web site: Entrez Gene: CALD1 caldesmon 1.