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In a screen for calcium-regulated gene expression during growth and development of Dictyostelium discoideum we have identified an asparaginyl tRNA synthetase (ddAsnRS) gene, the second tRNA synthetase gene identified in this organism. The ddAsnRS gene shows many unique features. One, it is repressed by lowering cellular calcium, making it the first known calcium-regulated tRNA synthetase. Two, despite the calcium-dependence, its expression is unaltered during the cell cycle, making this the first D. discoideum gene to show a calcium-dependent but cell cycle phase-independent expression. Finally, the N-terminal domain of the predicted ddAsnRS protein shows higher sequence similarity to Glutaminyl tRNA synthetases than to other Asn tRNA synthetases. These unique features of the AsnRS from this primitive eukaryote not only point to a novel mechanism regulating the components of translation machinery and gene expression by calcium, but also hint at a link between the evolution of GlnRS and AsnRS in eukaryotes.

Calcium is among the most commonly used ions, in a multitude of biological functions, so much so that it is impossible to imagine life without calcium. In this article I have attempted to address the question as to how calcium has achieved this status with a brief mention of the history of calcium research in biology. It appears that during the origin and early evolution of life the Ca2+ ion was given a unique opportunity to be used in several biological processes because of its unusual physical and chemical properties.