Plant cells contain calsequestrin.

Calsequestrin is a high capacity low affinity Ca2+-binding protein thought to be essential for the function of the intracellular rapid releasable Ca2+ pool of a variety of animal cells. Here we show that two types of plant tissues, cultured Streptanthus tortuosus cells and spinach leaves, contain a form of calsequestrin. In subcellular fractions of S. tortuosus cells, Stains-all staining reveals a metachromatically blue-staining 56,000-Da protein enriched in the microsomal fraction. This protein shares several biochemical characteristics with animal calsequestrin: 1) it changes its apparent molecular weight with the pH; 2) it is able to bind 45Ca2+ on nitrocellulose transfers; and 3) it is recognized by antibodies against canine cardiac calsequestrin. Calsequestrin was also identified in spinach leaves using a direct extraction procedure that was developed for muscle calsequestrin. Thus, our results demonstrate that plant cells contain calsequestrin within a subcellular membrane fraction. These results also suggest that calsequestrin is an ubiquitous protein rather than being limited only to animal cells.