Aluminium-Induced Deformations and Malfunctions of Calmodulin

Abstract

Aluminium toxicity is recognized as a serious global problem because vast areas of the world, especially in the subtropic and tropic zones, in western Europe and in the eastern United States, suffer from soil acidity which mobilizes soil aluminium¹. Because part of the toxic effects exerted by aluminium ions are known to interfere with calcium metabolism, and since calmodulin has been recognized as a multifunctional, calcium-dependent regulatory protein for a variety of cellular responses², Al-induced structural deformations of calmodulin would therefore have severe repercussions on a multitude of cellular functions. Consequently we have advanced the hypothesis that a complex formed between calmodulin and aluminium may be a key lesion in what is now the broadly defined syndrome of aluminium toxicity³.