Calcium signaling and transcription: elongation, DoGs, and eRNAs

Receptors Clin Investig. 2016;3(1):e1169. doi: 10.14800/rci.1169. Epub 2016 Feb 1.

Abstract

The calcium ion (Ca2+) is a key intracellular signaling molecule with far-reaching effects on many cellular processes. One of the most important such Ca2+ regulated processes is transcription. A body of literature describes the effect of Ca2+ signaling on transcription initiation as occurring mainly through activation of gene-specific transcription factors by Ca2+-induced signaling cascades. However, the reach of Ca2+ extends far beyond the first step of transcription. In fact, Ca2+ can regulate all phases of transcription, with additional effects on transcription-associated events such as alternative splicing. Importantly, Ca2+ signaling mediates reduced transcription termination in response to certain stress conditions. This reduction allows readthrough transcription, generating a highly inducible and diverse class of downstream of gene containing transcripts (DoGs) that we have recently described.

Keywords: Ca2+ signaling; DoGs; readthrough transcription; transcription regulation.