“…The degree of activation of RyRs during EC coupling depends on the strength of the signal from the DHPR, which is added to activity imposed by other regulatory factors such as ATP, Mg 2ϩ , FKBP12, and calmodulin (i.e., the background activity of the RyR). The resting background activity of the calcium release channel can be modulated by a variety of cytoplasmic factors including Ca 2ϩ and ATP (Meissner, 1994), by co-proteins such as FKBP12 (Jayaraman et al, 1992;Timerman et al, 1993;Ahern et al, 1994), by covalent modification with oxidation or nitrosylation (see review by Dulhunty et al, 2000;Hart, 2000;Eu et al, 2000), and by phosphorylation (Wang and Best, 1992;Hermann-Frank and Varsanyi, 1993;Hain et al, 1994;Sonnleitner et al, 1997).…”