1.A.77.1.1
Inner membrane 40KD mitochondrial Ca²⁺ channel-forming uniporter, MCU or MICU2 (DUF607; 350 aas; coiled coil domain protein 109 A) (De Stefani et al., 2011; Drago et al., 2011).  It functions with MICU1, an essential component of the system, as well as the gatekeeper for Ca²⁺ uptake (Mallilankaraman et al. 2012a; Mallilankaraman et al. 2012b).  It contributes to metabolism-insulin secretion coupling in clonal pancreatic beta-cells (Alam et al. 2012).  MCU-mediated Ca²⁺ uptake in beta cells is essential to establish a nutrient-induced mitochondrial pH gradient which is critical for sustained ATP synthesis and metabolism-secretion coupling in insulin-releasing cells (Quan et al. 2015). The mitochondrial calcium uniporter of pulmonary type 2 cells determines the severity of acute lung injury (Islam et al. 2022).  Regulation of mitochondrial calcium uptake by the mitochondrial calcium uniporter complex is crucial for heart function. It has been demonstrated that mitochondrial calcium uptake (MICU)1 and MICU2, regulatory subunits of the complex, help maintain calcium homeostasis in cardiac mitochondria, provide potential targets for therapies aimed at improving mitochondrial function in heart disease (Ozkurede et al. 2024).