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Updated: Dec 26, 2025

Single-Cell Calcium Imaging for Studying the Activation of Calcium Ion Channels
Published on: December 13, 2024
The molecular choreography of a store-operated calcium channel
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA. rslewis@stanford.edu
Abstract:
Store-operated calcium channels (SOCs) serve essential functions from secretion and motility to gene expression and cell growth. A fundamental mystery is how the depletion of Ca2+ from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) activates Ca2+ entry through SOCs in the plasma membrane. Recent studies using genetic approaches have identified genes encoding the ER Ca2+ sensor and a prototypic SOC, the Ca2+-release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channel. New findings reveal a unique mechanism for channel activation, in which the CRAC channel and its sensor migrate independently to closely apposed sites of interaction in the ER and the plasma membrane.
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