Regulation of CAX1, an Arabidopsis Ca(2+)/H+ antiporter. Identification of an N-terminal autoinhibitory domain.

Regulation of Ca(2+) transport determines the duration of a Ca(2+) signal, and hence, the nature of the biological response. Ca(2+)/H+ antiporters such as CAX1 (cation exchanger 1), play a key role in determining cytosolic Ca(2+) levels. Analysis of a full-length CAX1 clone suggested that the CAX1 open reading frame contains an additional 36 amino acids at the N terminus that were not found in the original clone identified by suppression of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) vacuolar Ca(2+) transport mutants. The long CAX1 (lCAX1) could not suppress the yeast Ca(2+) transport defects despite localization to the yeast vacuole. Calmodulin could not stimulate lCAX1 Ca(2+)/H+ transport in yeast; however, minor alterations in the 36-amino acid region restored Ca(2+)/H+ transport. Sequence analysis suggests that a 36-amino acid N-terminal regulatory domain may be present in all Arabidopsis CAX-like genes. Together, these results suggest a structural feature involved in regulation of Ca(2+)/H+ antiport.