Inorganic phosphate (Pi) signalling in mammalian cells

Present in animals’ cells, protozoa, fungi, and plants, inorganic phosphate (Pi) is involved in regulating a wide range of fundamental cellular processes, including energy homeostasis; nucleotide, nucleic acid, and phospholipid metabolism; and signaling through protein phosphorylation events. There is now vast evidence that Pi is associated with major pathological processes, including increased thrombotic risk in chronic kidney disease (CKD), renal fibrosis, vascular calcification, cellular senescence, angiogenesis, carcinogenesis, and tumor progression, but cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in regulating cellular Pi homeostasis and sensing changes in the extracellular and intracellular Pi concentrations are still elusive and merit further investigations. I am interested to study these novels, yet to be fully determined, signalling mechanisms that alterations in extra and intracellular concentrations of Pi induce in mammalian cells.