Neurocalcin is a
neuronal calcium
Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to ...
-binding
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
that belongs to the
neuronal calcium sensor Neuronal Calcium Sensor is a large family of proteins which work as calcium dependent molecular switches and includes members like Frequenin (NCS1), recoverin, GCAP, neurocalcin, visinin etc. All the members carry 4 EF hand motifs (out of which only ...
(NCS) family of proteins.
It expressed in
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
ian
brain
A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...
s. It possesses a Ca
2+/
myristoyl switch
The subclass of neurocalcins are brain-specific proteins that fit into the EF-hand superfamily of calcium binding proteins. The NCS family were defined by the photoreceptor cell-specific protein, recoverin. Neurocalcin was purified from the bovine brain by using calcium-dependent drug affinity chromatography. The amino acid sequence showed that neurocalcin has three functional calcium binding sites. It is expressed in the central nervous system, retina, and adrenal gland. With this unique pattern of expression it is thought that neurcalcin offers a different physiological role than similar proteins visinin and
recoverin
Recoverin (abbreviated Recov) is a 23 kilodalton (kDa) neuronal calcium-binding protein that is primarily detected in the photoreceptor cells of the eye. It plays a key role in the inhibition of rhodopsin kinase, a molecule which regulates the pho ...
.
Neurocalcin delta an isoform of Neurocalcin is known to regulate adult neurogenesis ( Upadhyay et al., 2019)
External links
*
NCS proteins
Protein Database Page