Molecular cloning and localization of a PMCA P-type calcium ATPase from the coral Stylophora pistillata.

Plasma-membrane calcium pumps (PMCAs) are responsible for the expulsion of Ca(2+) from the cytosol of all eukaryotic cells and are one of the major transport systems involved in long-term regulation of resting intracellular Ca(2+) concentration. An important feature of stony corals, one of the major groups of calcifying animals, is the continuous export of large quantities of Ca(2+) for skeletogenesis. Here, we report the cloning and functional expression of the stpPMCA gene from the coral Stylophora pistillata, and whose features resemble those of the plasma-membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase family of mammalian cells.