Acidocalcisomes

Abstract

Acidocalcisomes are acidic organelles containing calcium and a high concentration of phosphorus in the form of pyrophosphate (PPi) and polyphosphate (poly P). Organelles with these characteristics have been found from bacteria to human cells implying an early appearance and persistence over evolutionary time or their appearance by convergent evolution. Acidification of the organelles is driven by the presence of vacuolar proton pumps, one of which, the vacuolar proton pyrophosphatase, is absent in animals, where it is substituted by a vacuolar proton ATPase. A number of other pumps, antiporters, and channels have been described in acidocalcisomes of different species and are responsible for their internal content. Enzymes involved in the synthesis and degradation of PPi and poly P are present within the organelle. Acidocalcisomes function as storage sites for cations and phosphorus, and participate in PPi and poly P metabolism, calcium homeostasis, maintenance of intracellular pH, and osmoregulation. Experiments in which the acidocalcisome Ca2+−ATPase of different parasites were downregulated or eliminated, or acidocalcisome Ca2+ was depleted revealed the importance of this store in Ca2+ signaling needed for host invasion and virulence. Acidocalcisomes interact with other organelles in a number of organisms suggesting their association with the endosomal/lysosomal pathway, and are considered part of the lysosome-related group of organelles.