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The direct measurement of mitochondrial Ca(2+) with highly specific probes demonstrated that major swings in organellar Ca(2+) parallel the changes occurring in the cytosol and regulate processes as diverse as aerobic metabolism and cell death by necrosis and apoptosis. Despite great biological relevance, insight was limited by the complete lack of molecular understanding. The situation has changed, and new perspectives have emerged following the very recent identification of the mitochondrial Ca(2+) uniporter, the channel allowing rapid Ca(2+) accumulation across the inner mitochondrial membrane.
Patrón et al. (Tue,) studied this question.