CaMK-II is a PKD2 target that promotes pronephric kidney development and stabilizes cilia
- Authors
 - Rothschild, S.C., Francescatto, L., Drummond, I.A., and Tombes, R.M.
 - ID
 - ZDB-PUB-110719-12
 - Date
 - 2011
 - Source
 - Development (Cambridge, England) 138(16): 3387-97 (Journal)
 - Registered Authors
 - Drummond, Iain, Francescatto, Ludmila, Rothschild, Sarah Chase, Tombes, Robert M.
 - Keywords
 - none
 - MeSH Terms
 - 
    
        
        
            
                
- Polycystic Kidney Diseases/embryology*
 - Polycystic Kidney Diseases/enzymology*
 - Polycystic Kidney Diseases/pathology
 - Cilia/enzymology
 - Zebrafish Proteins/deficiency
 - Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
 - Embryo, Nonmammalian/enzymology
 - Enzyme Activation
 - Animals
 - Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
 - Carrier Proteins/metabolism*
 - Zebrafish/embryology*
 - Zebrafish/genetics
 - Zebrafish/metabolism*
 - Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic
 - Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2/genetics
 - Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2/metabolism*
 
 - PubMed
 - 21752935 Full text @ Development
 
Intracellular Ca2+ signals influence gastrulation, neurogenesis and organogenesis through pathways that are still being defined. One potential Ca2+ mediator of many of these morphogenic processes is CaMK-II, a conserved calmodulin-dependent protein kinase. Prolonged Ca2+ stimulation converts CaMK-II into an activated state that, in the zebrafish, is detected in the forebrain, ear and kidney. Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease has been linked to mutations in the Ca2+-conducting TRP family member PKD2, the suppression of which in vertebrate model organisms results in kidney cysts. Both PKD2-deficient and CaMK-II-deficient zebrafish embryos fail to form pronephric ducts properly, and exhibit anterior cysts and destabilized cloacal cilia. PKD2 suppression inactivates CaMK-II in pronephric cells and cilia, whereas constitutively active CaMK-II restores pronephric duct formation in pkd2 morphants. PKD2 and CaMK-II deficiencies are synergistic, supporting their existence in the same genetic pathway. We conclude that CaMK-II is a crucial effector of PKD2 Ca2+ that both promotes morphogenesis of the pronephric kidney and stabilizes primary cloacal cilia.