Abstract
Calumenin was previously identified as a high affinity Ca$\^$2+/ binding protein in mouse cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). For the present study, a 48 kDa skeletal homologue of calumenin was identified by sucrose-density gradient of rabbit skeletal SR membranes, concanavalin A treatment, 2D-gel electrophoresis, $\^$45/Ca$\^$2+/ overlay, Stains-all staining, and MALDI-TOF analysis. We attempted to clone the skeletal calumenin by RT-PCR based on mouse cardiac and human calumenin sequences. The deduced amino acid sequence (315 residues) of the skeletal calumenin showed high identity to mouse cardiac calumenin (90％). As seen in the cardiac calumenin, the deduced sequence contains a 19 amino acid N-terminal signal sequence and a HDEF C-terminal sequence, a putative retrieval signal to ER. Also, the skeletal calumenin contains one N-glycosylation site, three PKC phosphorylation sites, eight casein kinase 2 phosphorylation sites, and 6 EF-hand domains. GST-calumenin showed a conformational change and increased mobility in the presence of Ca$\^$2+/ in SDS-PAGE. Three calumenin interacting proteins (ryanodine receptor 1, glycogen phosphorylase, and phosphofructo kinase) were identified by pull-down assay with GST-calumenin and solubilized SR. All the interactions were Ca$\^$2+/dependent. The present results suggest that calumenin plays an important role in Ca$\^$2+/ homeostasis of muscle cells.