The ACA4 gene of Arabidopsis encodes a vacuolar membrane calcium pump that improves salt tolerance in yeast

Several lines of evidence suggest that regulation of intracellular Ca(2+) levels is crucial for adaptation of plants to environmental stress. We have cloned and characterized Arabidopsis auto-inhibited Ca(2+)-ATPase, isoform 4 (ACA4), a calmodulin-regulated Ca(2+)-ATPase. Confocal laser scanning data of a green fluorescent protein-tagged version of ACA4 as well as western-blot analysis of microsomal fractions obtained from two-phase partitioning and Suc density gradient centrifugation suggest that ACA4 is localized to small vacuoles. The N terminus of ACA4 contains an auto-inhibitory domain with a binding site for calmodulin as demonstrated through calmodulin-binding studies and complementation experiments using the calcium transport yeast mutant K616. ACA4 and PMC1, the yeast vacuolar Ca(2+)-ATPase, conferred protection against osmotic stress such as high NaCl, KCl, and mannitol when expressed in the K616 strain. An N-terminally modified form of ACA4 specifically conferred increased NaCl tolerance, whereas full-length ATPase had less effect.