Molecular nature and physiological role of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter channel
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Calcium (Ca 2+ ) signaling is critical for cell function and cell survival. Mitochondria play a major role in regulating the intracellular Ca 2+ concentration ([Ca 2+ ] i ). Mitochondrial Ca 2+ uptake is an important determinant of cell fate and governs respiration, mitophagy/autophagy, and the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. Mitochondrial Ca 2+ uptake occurs via the mitochondrial Ca 2+ uniporter (MCU) complex. This review summarizes the present knowledge on the function of MCU complex, regulation of MCU channel, and the role of MCU in Ca 2+ homeostasis and human disease pathogenesis. The channel core consists of four MCU subunits and essential MCU regulators (EMRE). Regulatory proteins that interact with them include mitochondrial Ca 2+ uptake 1/2 (MICU1/2), MCU dominant-negative β-subunit (MCUb), MCU regulator 1 (MCUR1), and solute carrier 25A23 (SLC25A23). In addition to these proteins, cardiolipin, a mitochondrial membrane-specific phospholipid, has been shown to interact with the channel core. The dynamic interplay between the core and regulatory proteins modulates MCU channel activity after sensing local changes in [Ca 2+ ] i , reactive oxygen species, and other environmental factors. Here, we highlight the structural details of the human MCU heteromeric assemblies and their known roles in regulating mitochondrial Ca 2+ homeostasis. MCU dysfunction has been shown to alter mitochondrial Ca 2+ dynamics, in turn eliciting cell apoptosis. Changes in mitochondrial Ca 2+ uptake have been implicated in pathological conditions affecting multiple organs, including the heart, skeletal muscle, and brain. However, our structural and functional knowledge of this vital protein complex remains incomplete, and understanding the precise role for MCU-mediated mitochondrial Ca 2+ signaling in disease requires further research efforts.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".