Characterization of the Calmodulin-Like Protein Family in Chara braunii and their Conserved Interaction with the Calmodulin-Binding Transcription Activator Family.

Calcium sensor proteins play important roles by detecting changes in intracellular calcium and relaying that information onto downstream targets through protein-protein interaction. Very little is known about calcium sensors from plant species that predate land colonization and the evolution of embryophytes. Here, we examined the genome of the multicellular algae, Chara braunii, for orthologs to the evolutionarily conserved calcium sensor calmodulin (CaM) and for CaM-like (CML) proteins.