EF手图像超家族成员——肌钙蛋白C的研究进展

The Research Progress of One Member of the EF_hand Superfamily ——Troponin C

摘要:

EF手图像超家族蛋白泛指一类含有由螺旋区-泡区-螺旋区构成的EF手图像模体的蛋白。 这类蛋白通常都具有金属离子结合能力或者形成二聚体的能力。 肌钙蛋白C是一种EF手图像蛋白，它具有钙离子结合能力，可以与肌钙蛋白I、肌钙蛋白T形成复合物调节肌肉收缩。 目前，国内外对肌钙蛋白C的研究多数集中在脊椎动物上，而对无脊椎动物的研究较少。主要从EF手图像超家族的特性及其家族成员——肌钙蛋白C的分类、结构及功能等方面进行了阐述，并结合笔者自身的研究方向，简要介绍了家蚕肌钙蛋白C的研究情况及前景。

Abstract:

The EF_hand superfamily is a large group of proteins which contain EF_hand motif formed by helix_loop_helix. These proteins always have the ability of binding metal ions or forming dimmers. Troponin C, known as having ability of binding Ca^2＋, is one member of the EF_hand superfamily. Troponin C interacts with troponin I and troponin T, forming a troponin complex which takes part in regulating muscle contraction. It is interesting that troponin C was also found in non_muscular tissue, and its function was proved to be different from that of troponin C found in muscular tissue. To date, a lot of researches about troponin C have been carried out widely. However, most of them focused on vertebrate, seldom were done on invertebrate. Our group carried out a research on troponin C from silkworm, a model organism of insects, aiming to clarify the structure and function of silkworm troponin C. Here, we mainly discuss the characters of the EF_hand superfamily and the classification、structure and function of troponin C . We also introduced our work about silkworm troponin C briefly, hoping of making a little contribution to the research of invertebrate troponin C.