Emergence of broad cytosolic Ca2+ oscillations in the absence of CRAC channels: A model for CRAC-mediated negative feedback on PLC and Ca2+ oscillations through PKC

Abstract

The role of Ca²⁺ release-activated Ca²⁺ (CRAC) channels mediated by ORAI isoforms in calcium signalling has been extensively investigated. It has been shown that the presence or absence of different isoforms has a significant effect on store-operated calcium entry (SOCE). Yoast et al. (2020) showed that, in addition to the reported narrow-spike oscillations (whereby cytosolic calcium decreases quickly after a sharp increase), ORAI1 knockout HEK293 cells were able to oscillate with broad-spike oscillations (whereby cytosolic calcium decreases in a prolonged manner after a sharp increase) when stimulated with a muscarinic agonist. This suggests that Ca²⁺ influx through ORAI-mediated CRAC channels negatively regulates the duration of Ca²⁺ oscillations. We hypothesise that, through the activation of protein kinase C (PKC), ORAI1 negatively regulates phospholipase C (PLC) activity to decrease inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP₃) production and limit the duration of agonist-evoked Ca²⁺ oscillations. Based on this hypothesis, we construct a new mathematical model, which shows that the formation of broad-spike oscillations is highly dependent on the absence of ORAI1. Predictions of this model are consistent with the experimental results.

Keywords: Bifurcation analysis; Broad-spike oscillations; Calcium influx; ORAI.