Calcium Ion Receptor (CaSR)

The Calcium Sensing Receptor (CaSR) protein is present in a variety of tissues where it functions in fundamental roles in growth modulation, osmoregulation, nutrient absorption and development of the digestive system, intermediary metabolism, olfactory sensing and biomineralization (Ca²⁺ deposition in skeletons and shells). The CaSR is present in most living organisms.

CaSRs were first characterized by MariCal Co-Founders as important modulators of terrestrial mammalian Ca²⁺ (Brown, EM et al. Nature 366:575, 1993), sodium (Hebert, SC et al. Cell Calcium 35:239, 2004), water (Sands, JM et al. J. Clin. Invest. 99:1399, 1997) and nutrient (Conigrave, AD et al. J. Biol. Chem. 279:38151, 2004) metabolism.

After the initial work on the importance of CaSRs in terrestrial mammals, MariCal Co-Founders made a second series of discoveries leading to the recognition that CaSRs are also fundamental salinity-nutrient sensing receptors in aquatic organisms (Nearing, J et al. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 99:231, 2002). Using a combination of molecular cloning, cell biology and physiological experiments MariCal has demonstrated that CaSRs serve as "master switches" for a host of important physiological processes including salinity adaptation, olfaction, nutrient sensing and shell formation in animals. These data have been supported by research performed in independent laboratories on terrestrial and aquatic animals (Hubbard, PC et al. J. Exp. Biol. 205:2755, 2002; Loretz, CA Comp. Biochem. and Physiol. 149:225, 2008; VanHouten, J. et al J. Clin. Invest. 113:598, 2004).

MariCal has learned how to control or influence critical biological processes by modulation of CaSRs using combinations of naturally occurring compounds that interact with the CaSR protein. Recent research has established the important role of CaSRs in multiple processes in terrestrial animals that are important in food production such as growth and fluid secretion of intestinal epithelial cells, control over nutrient absorption, feed conversion, egg shell production in chickens, and milk production in cattle.