Resumen de Calcium – nature's messenger

David J. Timson

• Abstract Calcium ions are used as messengers in the cells of almost all iving things. They can cause diverse responses from movement to death. Calcium ions are ideal for signaling because they can be rapidly solvated and desolvated, making them ideal for creating both on and off signals in real time.

  Many proteins (e.g. calmodulin) recognise calcium ions and change their shapes in response. These shape changes are a key part of the signalling process.