Exploiting Cameleon Probes to Investigate Organelles Ca2+ Handling

Abstract

Calcium ion (Ca²⁺) is a ubiquitous intracellular messenger able to generate versatile intracellular signals that modulate a large variety of functions in virtually every cell type. Chemical and genetic biosensors, targeted to different subcellular compartments, have been developed and continuously improved to monitor Ca²⁺ dynamics in living cells. Here we describe the usage of Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based Cameleon probes to investigate Ca²⁺ influx across the plasma membrane (PM) or Ca²⁺ release from the main intracellular Ca²⁺ store, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER).

Keywords: Ca2+ imaging; Ca2+ signaling; Cameleon; Endoplasmic reticulum; FRET; IP3 receptor; SOCE.