[Calreticulin--the structure, cell localizations and functions in animals and plants]

Calreticulin (CRT) is an ubiquitously expressed Ca2+ binding protein in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of eukaryotic cells. A highly conserved structure between CRTs from different species of animals and plants confirms an important role of the protein in living cells. CRT has been found in different cellular compartments, suggesting to play a role in many cellular processes both inside and outside the ER. Although, the basic CRT functions like regulation of Ca2 homeostasis and molecular chaperoning in ER might be the key to explain the multi-process property of the protein. The plant CRT sequence shares the same structural domain features identified for animal CRT and seems to have similar properties. However, the current knowledge about CRT expression and physiological role in plants is still very limited. Therefore in this work, we focus on these less-well-characterized functions of CRT in plants.