Protein Domain : Sodium/calcium exchanger protein IPR004836

Type	Family
Description	Na +/Ca 2+exchange proteins are involved in maintaining Ca 2+homeostasis in a wide variety of cell types. They are found in both the plasma membraneand intracellular organellar membranes, where they exchange Na +for Ca 2+in an electrogenic manner. When located in the plasma membrane, they generallyutilise the transmembrane (TM) Na +concentration gradient in order to extrude Ca2+from cells. Three mammalian isoforms have been cloned to date (NCX1-3), which consist of 920-970 amino acid residues that are predictedto possess 11 or 12 TM domains. Interestingly, they possess a short motif (~30 residues) that is similar to the Na+/K +-ATPase, although its function is unknown [, ].NCX1 has been found to be predominantly expressed in the heart, where it plays an important role in excitation-contraction coupling, but it is alsoabundant in a variety of other tissues [ ]. NCX2 and NCX3 transcripts havebeen detected in the brain and skeletal muscle [ , ]. Homologous Na+/Ca 2+exchange proteins have also been found in Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster andLoligo opalescens (California market squid).
Short Name	Na_Ca_Ex