Simply Awesome Possum

We all know that calcium is pretty important. How many times have we heard dad say, "Drink your milk! You need the calcium!" And dad is right- calcium is an important second messenger that triggers certain intracellular responses, such as exocytosis in neurons and endocrine cells. Calcium is also necessary for any type of movement because it triggers ATP-requiring muscle contractions while also activating glycogen breakdown (so that we can make ATP).`
So, whether you need to jump really high to dunk a ball or run really fast to get to class or even stand really still to get your picture taken, calcium is playing a roll in your body, and the concentration of calcium is changing in your cells! And guess what? Calmodulin, the awesome possum protein pictured above, controls TONS of calcium dependent enzymes!!!!!!!! Just some of the proteins regulated by calmodulin include adenylyl cyclase, glutamate decarboxylase, plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPase, and RNA helicase. The most important roles calmodulin plays are its activation of CaM kinases (which phosphorylate and regulate the activities of numerous target enzymes) and its regulation of phosphorylase b kinase of muscle.
So basically, if we didn't have calmodulin, we wouldn't be able to use our muscles to dance or play sports or smile or type or eat or do ANYTHING! We would be like paralyzed zombies!!! And that would be boring. Calmodulin is AWESOME POSSUM.
Plus, it has a SWEET STRUCTURE!! Calmodulin has been named "the best studied and prototypical example of the E-F-hand family of [calcium]-sensing proteins" (D. Chin, A. R. Means). The E-F hand refers to a helix-loop-helix motif that is found in many other calcium-binding proteins. Basically, if you pretend that your right hand is a shot gun and point it up into the air, and then imagine that a bullet of calcium is lodged in the little hole made by your last three fingers (that are curled up), you have a picture of an E-F hand of calmodulin! And by the way, it's pretty tough to disarm calmodulin considering it has FOUR of these shotguns (E-F hands)! That's right, this protein truly is drop-dead gorgeous.


Because it is SO important and SO GOOD LOOKING you should probably vote for calmodulin as "Protein of the Year."


                             


Works Cited:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10884684

http://www.jbc.org/content/280/33/29964.abstract?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&andorexacttitle=and&titleabstract=calmodulin+osteoclasts&andorexacttitleabs=and&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

http://www.jbc.org/content/272/42/26202.abstract?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&andorexacttitle=and&titleabstract=calmodulin+phosphorylase+b+kinase&andorexacttitleabs=and&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

Nelson, David L., and Michael M. Cox. Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. 5th ed. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, 2008. 437-603. Print.