Calcium regulation of stem cells

Abstract

Pluripotent and post-natal, tissue-specific stem cells share func- tional features such as the capacity to differentiate into multiple lineages and to self-renew, and are endowed with specific cell maintenance mechanism as well as transcriptional and epigenetic signatures that determine stem cell identity and distinguish them from their progeny. Calcium is a highly versatile and ubiquitous second messenger that regulates a wide variety of cellular func- tions. Specific roles of calcium in stem cell niches and stem cell maintenance mechanisms are only beginning to be explored, however. In this review, I discuss stem cell-specific regulation and roles of calcium, focusing on its potential involvement in the inter- twined metabolic and epigenetic regulation of stem cells.