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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Plant Gene Expression Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #415789
Research Project: Developmental and Environmental Control Mechanisms to Enhance Plant Productivity

Location: Plant Gene Expression Center

Title: Plant and animal calpain functions, association with microtubules and possible medical applications

Author
item OPSAHL-SORTEBERG, HILDE-GUNN - Norwegian University Of Life Sciences
item EVJU, ESPEN - Norwegian University Of Life Sciences
item LIANG, ZHE - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item Fletcher, Jennifer

Submitted to: Medical Research Archives
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/31/2024
Publication Date: 9/30/2024
Citation: Opsahl-Sorteberg, H., Evju, E., Liang, Z., Fletcher, J.C. 2024. Plant and animal calpain functions, association with microtubules and possible medical applications. Medical Research Archives. 12(9). https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v12i9.5639.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v12i9.5639

Interpretive Summary: Calpains are multi-domain proteins found in plants, animals and algae that date from more than a billion years ago. Calpains have important basic cellular roles in controlling microtubule activity, cell division patterns, and cell adhesion, and altered calpain function is associated with cancer and other severe diseases in humans. Here we propose that calpains played a role in the development of complex multicellularity in ancestral one-celled organisms and discuss the biological functions and medical conditions with which they are associated.

Technical Abstract: Calpains are calcium-activated cysteine proteases, activating many biological substrates via cleavage. First reported in 1964, the name calpainopathology was constructed in 1995 when calpains were linked to cell cycle control and cancer. Since then, calpains have been linked to human medical conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and even immunology by acting on T-cell receptors. Calpains are recognized to regulate stem cell functions via microtubules (MT) and we have just recently connected calpain function to the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) in land plants and brown algae. Calpain evolution is still not clear, but the cysteine protease (CysPc) domain is found in bacteria and the membrane associated MIT domain in Archaea, prior to the emergence of the membrane domain in land plants and macroalgae. We suggest the CysPc-MIT module was present in the first eukaryotic common ancestor (FECA) and that this diverged into three independent last eukaryotic common ancestors (LECA) comprising diverse groups from animals to land plants. Evolutionary it has been suggested that complex multicellularity developed independently in approximately five lineages, and here we argue that calpain activity allowed development of multicellular organisms. Finally, we present an overview of calpains, possible functions and medical conditions to which they are linked. We believe understanding that calpains has promising medical spinoffs and look forward to seeing this field unfold in the years to come.