A wide variety of hormones, neurotransmitters and growth factors exert their cellular effects by reacting first with membrane receptors resulting in an increase of intracellular calcium and the cellular response. The calcium signal in the cell is mediated by the high-affinity calcium binding proteins (characterized by the EF-hand structural element), and by the calcium and phospholipid dependent proteins. Many of these have been discovered most recently. Their purification, distribution, protein and gene structures as well as their physiological roles are discussed. The book is of interest to biochemists and molecular biologists as well as to clinicians and the pharmaceutical industry who can apply the results in this field.

Preface.- Calcium-Binding Proteins: Past, Present, and Future.- Acknowledgments.- Section I Calcium Signaling by Calcium-Binding Proteins.- 1 The EF-Hand, Homologs and Analogs.- 2 Calcium-Binding Proteins of the EF-Hand-Type and of the Annexin Family: A Survey.- 3 Stains-All is a Dye that Probes the Conformational Features of Calcium Binding Proteins.- Section II EF-Hand Calcium-Binding Proteins: The S-100 Protein Family.- 4 The S-100 Protein Family: A Biochemical and Functional Overview.- 5 p9Ka, a Calcium-Ion-Binding Protein of Cultured Myoepithelial Cells.- 6 S-100-Related Proteins in Nerve Growth Factor-Induced Differentiation of Pc12 Cells.- 7 p11, a Member of The S-100 Protein Family, Is Associated With the Tyrosine Kinase Substrate P36 (Annexin H).- 8 Calcyclin - From Gene to Protein.- 9 Cloning and Characterization of a Cdna Encoding a Highly Conserved Ca2+-Binding Protein, Identified By An Anh-Prolactin Receptor Antibody.- 10 The Calgranulins, Members Of The S-100 Protein Family: Structural Features, Expression, and Possible Function.- 11 Mrps and Mrp 14, Two Calcium-Binding Proteins Expressed During Myelopoiesis.- 12 Distribution of the Calcium-Binding Proteins Mrp-8 and Mrp-14 in Normal And Pathological Conditions: Relation to the Cystic Fibrosis Antigen.- Section III Novel Members of the EF-Hand Calcium-Binding Protein Family in Normal and Transformed Cells.- 13 Calretinin.- 14 Purification, Identification And Regional Localization of a Brain-Specific Calretinin-Like Calcium-Binding Protein (Protein 10).- 15 Lsp1 is a New Lymphocyte-Specific Ca2+-Binding Protein Which Co-Caps With Surface Immunoglobulin.- 16 Nonmuscle ?-Actinin Is An EF-Hand Protein.- 17 EF-Hands Calcium Binding Regulates The Thioredoxin Reductase/Thioredoxin Electron Transfer In HumanKeratinocytes And Melanoma.- 18 Calcium-Binding Crystallins.- 19 Cloning and Sequencing of a New Calmodulin Related Calcium-Binding Protein Controlled by Cyclic Amp-Dependent Phosphorylation in the Thyroid: Calcyphosine.- 20 A 22 Kda Calcium-Binding Protein, Sorcin, is Encoded by Amplified Genes in Multidrug-Resistant Cells.- Section IV Calcium-Binding Proteins in Bacteria, Fungi, and Invertebrates. Structure, Function, and Evolution.- 21 Coordination and Stability of Calcium-Binding Site: D-Galactose/D-Glucose-Binding Protein of Bacterial Active Transport and Chemotaxis System.- 22 Calcium-Binding Sites in Myeloperoxidase and Lactoperoxidase.- 23 A Development-Specific Ca2+-Binding Protein From Myxococcus Xanthus.- 24 Unique Ca2+-Binding Proteins in Metazoan Invertebrates.- 25 Spec Proteins: Calcium-Binding Proteins in the Embryonic Ectoderm of Sea Urchins.- 26 Calcium-Binding Proteins From Tetrahymena.- 27 Sequence And Possible Function Of A Novel Ca2+-Binding Protein Encoded In The Shaker-Locus Of Drosophila.- 28 A Novel EF-Hand Ca2+-Binding Protein is Expressed in Discrete Subsets of Muscle and Nerve Cells of Drosophila.- Section V calcium Fluxes, Binding, and Metabolism.- 29 Putative Calcium-Binding Sites in Voltage-Gated Sodium and Calcium Channel ?1 Subunits.- 30 Alterations of Cellular Calcium Metabolism and Calcium Binding in Hypertension and Human Cardiac Hypertrophy.- Section VI Calcium-Dependent- and Phospholipid-Binding Proteins in Health and Disease.- 31 Diversity in the Annexin Family.- 32 Annexin I And Its Biochemical Properties.- 33 The Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Human Recombinant Lipocortin 1.- Author Index.