Abstract
In the last two decades, the study of Ca2+ homeostasis in living cells received a great impulse by the explosive development of genetically encoded Ca2+-indicators. The cloning of the Ca2+-sensitive photoprotein aequorin and of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria has been enormously advantageous for the biologists.
As polypeptides, aequorin and GFP allow their endogenous production in cell system as diverse as bacteria, yeast, slime moulds, plants and mammalian cells. Moreover, it is possible to specifically localize them within the cell by including defined targeting signals in the amino acid sequence.
These two proteins have been extensively engineerized to obtain several recombinant probes for different biological parameters, among which Ca2+ concentration reporters are probably the most relevant. In this review, we will not treat the GFP-based Ca2+ probes, but we will present the applications offered by aequorin in the study of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis, discussing also the new generation of bioluminescent probes that couple the Ca2+ sensitivity of aequorin to GFP fluorescence emission. In these probes, aequorin Ca2+-dependent photon emission delivers energy to the GFP acceptor in a bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET): this process enhances the stability and the high signal-to noise ratio of the probes and permits real-time measurements of subcellular Ca2+ changes in single cell imaging experiments. Very recently, the development of transgenic animals expressing GFP–aequorin bi-functional probes has also permitted the video-imaging of Ca2+ concentrations changes in live animals.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Pietrobon D (2007) Familial hemiplegic migraine. Neurotherapeutics 4(2):274–284
Berridge MJ, Bootman MD, Roderick HL (2003) Calcium signalling: dynamics, homeostasis and remodelling. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 4(7):517–529
LaFerla FM (2002) Calcium dyshomeostasis and intracellular signalling in Alzheimer’s disease. Nat Rev Neurosci 3(11):862–872
Rizzuto R, Pozzan T (2006) Microdomains of intracellular Ca2+: molecular determinants and functional consequences. Physiol Rev 86(1):369–408
Shimomura O, Johnson FH (1978) Peroxidized coelenterazine, the active group in the photoprotein aequorin. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 75(6):2611–2615
Morin JG, Hastings JW (1971) Energy transfer in a bioluminescent system. J Cell Physiol 77(3):313–318
Baubet V, Le Mouellic H, Campbell AK et al (2000) Chimeric green fluorescent protein-aequorin as bioluminescent Ca2+ reporters at the single-cell level. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97(13):7260–7265
Brini M (2008) Calcium-sensitive photoproteins. Methods 46(3):160–166
Alonso MT, Barrero MJ, Carnicero E et al (1998) Functional measurements of [Ca2+] in the endoplasmic reticulum using a herpes virus to deliver targeted aequorin. Cell Calcium 24(2):87–96
Bano D, Young KW, Guerin CJ et al (2005) Cleavage of the plasma membrane Na+/Ca2+ exchanger in excitotoxicity. Cell 120(2):275–285
Kendall JM, Badminton MN, Sala-Newby GB et al (1996) Agonist-stimulated free calcium in subcellular compartments. Delivery of recombinant aequorin to organelles using a replication deficient adenovirus vector. Cell Calcium 19(2):133–142
Rembold CM, Kendall JM, Campbell AK (1997) Measurement of changes in sarcoplasmic reticulum [Ca2+] in rat tail artery with targeted apoaequorin delivered by an adenoviral vector. Cell Calcium 21(1):69–79
Lim D, Fedrizzi L, Tartari M et al (2008) Calcium homeostasis and mitochondrial dysfunction in striatal neurons of Huntington disease. J Biol Chem 283(9):5780–5789
Rogers KL, Picaud S, Roncali E et al (2007) Non-invasive in vivo imaging of calcium signaling in mice. PLoS One 2(10):e974
Yamano K, Mori K, Nakano R et al (2007) Identification of the functional expression of adenosine A3 receptor in pancreas using transgenic mice expressing jellyfish apoaequorin. Transgenic Res 16(4):429–435
Head JF, Inouye S, Teranishi K et al (2000) The crystal structure of the photoprotein aequorin at 2.3 A resolution. Nature 405(6784):372–376
Shimomura O, Johnson FH, Saiga Y (1962) Extraction, purification and properties of aequorin, a bioluminescent protein from the luminous hydromedusan, Aequorea. J Cell Comp Physiol 59:223–239
Allen DG, Blinks JR (1978) Calcium transients in aequorin-injected frog cardiac muscle. Nature 273(5663):509–513
Cobbold PH (1980) Cytoplasmic free calcium and amoeboid movement. Nature 285(5765):441–446
Ridgway EB, Ashley CC (1967) Calcium transients in single muscle fibers. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 29(2):229–234
Ridgway EB, Gilkey JC, Jaffe LF (1977) Free calcium increases explosively in activating medaka eggs. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 74(2):623–627
Inouye S, Noguchi M, Sakaki Y et al (1985) Cloning and sequence analysis of cDNA for the luminescent protein aequorin. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 82(10):3154–3158
Rizzuto R, Brini M, Pozzan T (1994) Targeting recombinant aequorin to specific intracellular organelles. Methods Cell Biol 40:339–358
Miller AL, Karplus E, Jaffe LF (1994) Imaging [Ca2+]i with aequorin using a photon imaging detector. Methods Cell Biol 40:305–338
Kendall JM, Dormer RL, Campbell AK (1992) Targeting aequorin to the endoplasmic reticulum of living cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 189(2):1008–1016
Montero M, Brini M, Marsault R et al (1995) Monitoring dynamic changes in free Ca2+ concentration in the endoplasmic reticulum of intact cells. EMBO J 14(22):5467–5475
Brini M, De Giorgi F, Murgia M et al (1997) Subcellular analysis of Ca2+ homeostasis in primary cultures of skeletal muscle myotubes. Mol Biol Cell 8(1):129–143
Barrero MJ, Montero M, Alvarez J (1997) Dynamics of [Ca2+] in the endoplasmic reticulum and cytoplasm of intact HeLa cells. A comparative study. J Biol Chem 272(44):27694–27699
Rutter GA, Burnett P, Rizzuto R et al (1996) Subcellular imaging of intramitochondrial Ca2+ with recombinant targeted aequorin: significance for the regulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase activity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 93(11):5489–5494
Brini M, Marsault R, Bastianutto C et al (1995) Transfected aequorin in the measurement of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]c). A critical evaluation. J Biol Chem 270(17):9896–9903
Brini M, Murgia M, Pasti L et al (1993) Nuclear Ca2+ concentration measured with specifically targeted recombinant aequorin. EMBO J 12(12):4813–4819
Brini M, Marsault R, Bastianutto C et al (1994) Nuclear targeting of aequorin. A new approach for measuring nuclear Ca2+ concentration in intact cells. Cell Calcium 16(4):259–268
Rizzuto R, Simpson AW, Brini M et al (1992) Rapid changes of mitochondrial Ca2+ revealed by specifically targeted recombinant aequorin. Nature 358(6384):325–327
Rizzuto R, Pinton P, Carrington W et al (1998) Close contacts with the endoplasmic reticulum as determinants of mitochondrial Ca2+ responses. Science 280(5370):1763–1766
Marsault R, Murgia M, Pozzan T et al (1997) Domains of high Ca2+ beneath the plasma membrane of living A7r5 cells. EMBO J 16(7):1575–1581
Sitia R, Meldolesi J (1992) Endoplasmic reticulum: a dynamic patchwork of specialized subregions. Mol Biol Cell 3(10):1067–1072
Robert V, De Giorgi F, Massimino ML et al (1998) Direct monitoring of the calcium concentration in the sarcoplasmic and endoplasmic reticulum of skeletal muscle myotubes. J Biol Chem 273(46):30372–30378
Rogers KL, Stinnakre J, Agulhon C et al (2005) Visualization of local Ca2+ dynamics with genetically encoded bioluminescent reporters. Eur J Neurosci 21(3):597–610
Kendall JM, Sala-Newby G, Ghalaut V et al (1992) Engineering the CA(2+)-activated photoprotein aequorin with reduced affinity for calcium. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 187(2):1091–1097
Rogers KL, Martin JR, Renaud O et al (2008) Electron-multiplying charge-coupled detector-based bioluminescence recording of single-cell Ca2+. J Biomed Opt 13(3):031211
Curie T, Rogers KL, Colasante C et al (2007) Red-shifted aequorin-based bioluminescent reporters for in vivo imaging of Ca2 signaling. Mol Imaging 6(1):30–42
Abraham U, Prior JL, Granados-Fuentes D et al (2005) Independent circadian oscillations of Period1 in specific brain areas in vivo and in vitro. J Neurosci 25(38):8620–8626
Hardy J, Francis KP, DeBoer M et al (2004) Extracellular replication of Listeria monocytogenes in the murine gall bladder. Science 303(5659):851–853
Martin JR, Rogers KL, Chagneau C et al (2007) In vivo bioluminescence imaging of Ca signalling in the brain of Drosophila. PLoS One 2(3):e275
Agulhon C, Platel JC, Kolomiets B et al (2007) Bioluminescent imaging of Ca2+ activity reveals spatiotemporal dynamics in glial networks of dark-adapted mouse retina. J Physiol 583(Pt 3):945–958
Acknowledgements
The authors are deeply indebted to past and present collaborators and thank the University of Padova (local funding and Ateneo Project 2008), the Telethon Foundation (Project GGP04169), the Italian Ministry of University and Research (PRIN 2003 and 2005), the Italian National Research Council (CNR, Agency 2000) for financial support.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Fedrizzi, L., Brini, M. (2010). Bioluminescent Ca2+ Indicators. In: Verkhratsky, A., Petersen, O. (eds) Calcium Measurement Methods. Neuromethods, vol 43. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-476-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-476-0_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-60761-475-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-60761-476-0
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols