A Quantitative Study of the Ca2+/Calmodulin Sensitivity of Adenylyl Cyclase in Aplysia, Drosophila, and Rat

• DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1992.tb11005.x
• Publication Date: 2006-10-06T03:30:53Z
• Authors: Yoram Yovell; Eric R. Kandel; Yadin Dudai; Thomas W. Abrams
• Keywords: Aplysia; ADCY10; ADCY6

Studies in Aplysia and Drosophila have suggested that Ca2+/calmodulin-sensitive adenylyl cyclase may act as a site of convergence for the cellular representations conditioned stimulus (Ca2+ influx) unconditioned (facilitatory transmitter) during elementary associative learning. This hypothesis predicts rise intracellular free Ca2+ concentration produced by spike activity will cause an increase cyclase. However, published values sensitivity mammals vary widely. The difficulty evaluating whether would be activated physiological elevations levels is part consequence use Ca2+/EGTA buffers, which are prone to several types errors. Using procedure minimizes these errors, we quantified membranes from Aplysia, Drosophila, rat brain with purified species-specific calmodulins. In all three species, was range caused activity. dependent on both calmodulin Mg2+ concentration. raised threshold activation but also acted synergistically activate maximally