Calcium channel-coupled transcription factors facilitate direct nuclear signaling.

VGCCs play crucial roles within the CNS, in maintaining cell excitability, enabling activity- dependent neuronal development, and forming long-term memory by regulating Ca influx. The intracellular carboxyl-terminal domains of VGCC α1 subunits help regulate VGCC function. Emerging evidence suggests that some VGCC C-termini have functions independent of channel gating and exist as stable proteins.

α1ACT Is Essential for Survival and Early Cerebellar Programming in a Critical Neonatal Window.

Postnatal cerebellar development is a precisely regulated process involving well-orchestrated expression of neural genes. Neurological phenotypes associated with CACNA1A gene defects have been increasingly recognized, yet the molecular principles underlying this association remain elusive. By characterizing a dose-dependent CACNA1A gene deficiency mouse model, we discovered that α1ACT, as a transcription factor and secondary protein of CACNA1A mRNA, drives dynamic gene expression networks within cerebellar Purkinje cells and is indispensable for neonatal survival.

Mammalian Polycistronic mRNAs and Disease.

Our understanding of gene expression has come far since the 'one-gene one-polypeptide' hypothesis proposed by Beadle and Tatum. In this review, we address the gradual recognition that a growing number of polycistronic genes, originally discovered in viruses, are being identified within the mammalian genome, and that these may provide new insights into disease mechanisms and treatment. We carried out a systematic literature review identifying 13 mammalian genes for which there is evidence for polycistronic expression via translation through an internal ribosome entry site (IRES).