Analysis of EF-hand-containing proteins in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis</Emphasis>

Background  

In plants, calcium (Ca²⁺) has emerged as an important messenger mediating the action of many hormonal and environmental signals, including biotic and abiotic stresses. Many different signals raise cytosolic calcium concentration (Ca²⁺]_cyt), which in turn is thought to regulate cellular and developmental processes via Ca²⁺-binding proteins. Three out of the four classes of Ca²⁺-binding proteins in plants contain Ca²⁺-binding EF-hand motif(s). This motif is a conserved helix-loop-helix structure that can bind a single Ca²⁺ ion. To identify all EF-hand-containing proteins in Arabidopsis, we analyzed its completed genome sequence for genes encoding EF-hand-containing proteins.