Structures of EF-hand Ca(2+)-binding proteins: diversity in the organization, packing and response to Ca2+ binding.

The growing database of three-dimensional structures of EF-hand calcium-binding proteins is revealing a previously unrecognized variability in the conformations and organizations of EF-hand binding motifs. The structures of twelve different EF-hand proteins for which coordinates are publicly available are discussed and related to their respective biological and biophysical properties. The classical picture of calcium sensors and calcium signal modulators is presented, along with variants on the basic theme and new structural paradigms.