Calcium plays an important role in a wide variety of biological processes and is uniquely suited to act as a promoter or preventer of activities in biological systems. These two volumes provide the modern experimental techniques for studying calcium-binding proteins and their behaviour in vitro and in vivo. The primary emphasis is on protein chemistry and biophysical methods, and many of the methods described can also be used in the study of proteins that do not bind calcium. Volume I of this two-volume set provides information on the role of calcium in intracellular secondary messenger activation mechanisms. It also provides a wealth of information about protein purification strategies, X-ray crystallography and other studies focused on specific calcium-binding proteins. By introducing the various classes of intra- and extra-cellular calcium-binding proteins and their mode of action, this first volume sets the stage and provides the necessary background for volume II. The second volume provides a vast array of modern experimental techniques that can be used to study the solution structure, stability, dynamics, calcium-binding properties and biological activity of calcium-binding proteins in general. Together, these two volumes provide all that a researcher needs to conduct research on calcium-binding proteins.
Part I. Introduction and Reviews. Calcium-Binding Proteins, Hans J. Vogel, Richard D. Brokx, and Hui Ouyang. Calcium, Robert J. P. Williams. Crystal Structure of Calpain and Insights into Ca2+-Dependent Activation, Zongchao Jia, Christopher M. Hosfield, Peter L. Davies, and John S. Elce. The Multifunctional S100 Protein Family, Claus W. Heizmann. Ca2+ Binding to Proteins Containing g-Carboxyglutamic Acid Residues, Egon Persson. The Caseins of Milk as Calcium-Binding Proteins, Harold M. Farrell, Jr., Thomas F. Kumosinski, Edyth L. Malin, and Eleanor M. Brown. Part II. Calcium-Binding Proteins: Case Studies. Preparation of Recombinant Plant Calmodulin Isoforms, Raymond E. Zielinski. Isolation of Recombinant Cardiac Troponin C, John A. Putkey and Wen Liu. Skeletal Muscle Troponin C: Expression and Purification of the Recombinant Intact Protein and Its Isolated N- and C-Domain Fragments, Joyce R. Pearlstone and Lawrence B. Smillie. Purification of Recombinant Calbindin D9k, Eva Thulin. S100 Proteins: From Purification to Functions, Jean Christophe Deloulme, Gaelh Ouengue Mbele, and Jacques Baudier. Cadherins, Jean-Rene Alattia, Kit I. Tong, Masatoshi Takeichi, and Mitsuhiko Ikura. a-Lactalbumin and (Calcium-Binding) Lysozyme, Katsutoshi Nitta. Recombinant Annexin II Tetramer, Hyoung-Min Kang, Nolan R. Filipenko, Geetha Kassam, and David M. Waisman. Purification and Characterization of ALG-2: A Novel Apoptosis-Linked Ca2+-Binding Protein, Mingjie Zhang and Kevin W.-H. Lo. Crystallization and Structural Details of Ca2+-Induced Conformational Changes in the EF-Hand Domain V1 of Calpain, Miroslaw Cygler, Pawel Grochulski, and Helen Blanchard. Neurocalcin: Role in Neuronal Signaling, Senadhi Vijay-Kumar and Vinod D. Kumar. Crystallization and Structure-Function of Calsequestrin, ChulHee Kang, William R. Trumble, and A. Keith Dunker. Use of Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer to Monitor Ca2+-Triggered Membrane Docking of C2 Domains, Eric A. Nalefski and Joseph J. Falke. Ca2+-Binding Mode of the C2A-Domain of Synaptotagmin, Josep Rizo, Josep Ubach, and Jesus Garcia. Study of Calcineurin Structure by Limited Proteolysis, Seun-Ah Yang and Claude Klee. Index.