Effect of heavy chain phosphorylation on the polymerization and structure of Dictyostelium myosin filaments

In Dictyostelium amebas, myosin appears to be organized into filaments that relocalize during cell division and in response to stimulation by cAMP. To better understand the regulation of myosin assembly, we have studied the polymerization properties of purified Dictyostelium myosin. In 150 mM KCl, the myosin remained in the supernate following centrifugation at 100,000 g. Rotary shadowing showed that this soluble myosin was monomeric and that approximately 80% of the molecules had a single bend 98 nm from the head-tail junction. In very low concentrations of KCl (less than 10 mM) the Dictyostelium myosin was also soluble at 100,000 g. But rather than being monomeric, most of the molecules were associated into dimers or tetramers. At pH 7.5 in 50 mM KCl, dephosphorylated myosin polymerized into filaments whereas myosin phosphorylated to a level of 0.85 mol Pi/mol heavy chain failed to form filaments. The phosphorylated myosin could be induced to form filaments by lowering the pH or by increasing the magnesium concentration to 10 mM. The resulting filaments were bipolar, had blunt ends, and had a uniform length of approximately 0.43 micron. In contrast, filaments formed from fully dephosphorylated myosin were longer, had tapered ends, and aggregated to form very long, threadlike structures. The Dictyostelium myosin had a very low critical concentration for assembly of approximately 5 micrograms/ml, and this value did not appear to be affected by the level of heavy chain phosphorylation. The concentration of polymer at equilibrium, however, was significantly reduced, indicating that heavy chain phosphorylation inhibited the affinity of subunits for each other. Detailed assembly curves revealed that small changes in the concentration of KCl, magnesium, ATP, or H+ strongly influenced the degree of assembly. Thus, changes in both the intracellular milieu and the level of heavy chain phosphorylation may control the location and state of assembly of myosin in response to physiological stimuli.     

Expression in Escherichia coli of a functional Dictyostelium myosin tail fragment

The amino acid sequence of the myosin tail determines the specific manner in which myosin molecules are packed into the myosin filament, but the details of the molecular interactions are not known. Expression of genetically engineered myosin tail fragments would enable a study of the sequences important for myosin filament formation and its regulation. We report here the expression in Escherichia coli of a 1.5- kb fragment of the Dictyostelium myosin heavy chain gene coding for a 58-kD fragment of the myosin tail. The expressed protein (DdLMM-58) was purified to homogeneity from the soluble fraction of E. coli extracts. The expressed protein was found to be functional by the following criteria: (a) it appears in the electron microscope as a 74-nm-long rod, the predicted length for an alpha-helical coiled coil of 500 amino acids; (b) it assembles into filamentous structures that show the typical axial periodicity of 14 nm found in muscle myosin native filaments; (c) its assembly into filaments shows the same ionic strength dependence as Dictyostelium myosin; (d) it serves as a substrate for the Dictyostelium myosin heavy chain kinase which phosphorylates myosin in response to chemotactic signaling; (e) in its phosphorylated form it has the same phosphoamino acids and similar phosphopeptide maps to those of phosphorylated Dictyostelium myosin heavy chain; (f) it competes with myosin for the heavy chain kinase. Thus, all the information required for filament formation and phosphorylation is contained within this expressed protein.     

Active site trapping of nucleotide by smooth and non-muscle myosins

The folded 10 S monomer conformation of smooth muscle myosin traps the hydrolysis products ADP and Pi in its active sites. To test the significance of this, we have searched for equivalent trapping in other conformational and assembly states of avian gizzard and brush border myosins, using formycin triphosphate (FTP) as an ATP analogue. When myosin monomers were in the straight-tail 6 S conformation, the hydrolysis products were released at about 0.03 s-1. Adoption of the folded 10 S monomer conformation reduced this rate by more than 100-fold, effectively trapping the products FDP and Pi in the active sites. This profound inhibition of product release occurred only on formation of the looped tail monomer conformation. In vitro-assembled myosin filaments released products at a comparable rate to free straight-tail 6 S monomers, and smooth muscle heavy meromyosin, which lacks the C-terminal two-thirds of the myosin tail, also did not trap the products in this way. Phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain had no effect on the rate of product release from straight-tail 6 S myosin monomers or from myosin filaments. Rather, it allowed actin to accelerate product release. Phosphorylation acted also to destabilize the folded monomer conformation, causing the recruitment of molecules from the pool of folded monomers into the myosin filaments. The two processes of contraction and filament assembly are thus both controlled in vitro by light-chain phosphorylation. A similar linked control in vivo would allow the organization of myosin in the cell to adapt itself continuously to the pattern of contractile activity.     

Expression of Dictyostelium myosin tail segments in Escherichia coli: domains required for assembly and phosphorylation

The assembly of myosins into filaments is a property common to all conventional myosins. The ability of myosins to form filaments is conferred by the tail of the large asymmetric molecule. We are studying cloned portions of the Dictyostelium myosin gene expressed in Escherichia coli to investigate functional properties of defined segments of the myosin tail. We have focused on five segments derived from the 68-kD carboxyl-terminus of the myosin tail. These have been expressed and purified to homogeneity from E. coli, and thus the boundaries of each segment within the myosin gene and protein sequence are known. We identified an internal 34-kD segment of the tail, N-LMM-34, which is required and sufficient for assembly. This 287-amino acid domain represents the smallest tail segment purified from any myosin that is capable of forming highly ordered paracrystals characteristic of myosin. Because the assembly of Dictyostelium myosin can be regulated by phosphorylation of the heavy chain, we have studied the in vitro phosphorylation of the expressed tail segments. We have determined which segments are phosphorylated to a high level by a Dictyostelium myosin heavy chain kinase purified from developed cells. While LMM-68, the 68-kD carboxyl terminus of Dictyostelium myosin, or LMM-58, which lacks the 10-kD carboxyl terminus of LMM-68, are phosphorylated to the same extent as purified myosin, subdomains of these segments do not serve as efficient substrates for the kinase. Thus LMM-58 is one minimal substrate for efficient phosphorylation by the myosin heavy chain kinase purified from developed cells. Taken together these results identify two functional domains in Dictyostelium myosin: a 34-kD assembly domain bounded by amino acids 1533-1819 within the myosin sequence and a larger 58-kD phosphorylation domain bounded by amino acids 1533-2034 within the myosin sequence.     

Recruitment of a myosin heavy chain kinase to actin-rich protrusions in Dictyostelium

Nonmuscle myosin II plays fundamental roles in cell body translocation during migration and is typically depleted or absent from actin-based cell protrusions such as lamellipodia, but the mechanisms preventing myosin II assembly in such structures have not been identified [1-3]. In Dictyostelium discoideum, myosin II filament assembly is controlled primarily through myosin heavy chain (MHC) phosphorylation. The phosphorylation of sites in the myosin tail domain by myosin heavy chain kinase A (MHCK A) drives the disassembly of myosin II filaments in vitro and in vivo [4]. To better understand the cellular regulation of MHCK A activity, and thus the regulation of myosin II filament assembly, we studied the in vivo localization of native and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged MHCK A. MHCK A redistributes from the cytosol to the cell cortex in response to stimulation of Dictyostelium cells with chemoattractant in an F-actin-dependent manner. During chemotaxis, random migration, and phagocytic/endocytic events, MHCK A is recruited preferentially to actin-rich leading-edge extensions. Given the ability of MHCK A to disassemble myosin II filaments, this localization may represent a fundamental mechanism for disassembling myosin II filaments and preventing localized filament assembly at sites of actin-based protrusion.     

Biochemical characterization of a Dictyostelium myosin II heavy-chain phosphatase that promotes filament assembly.

In Dictyostelium cells, myosin II is found as cytosolic nonassembled monomers and cytoskeletal bipolar filaments. It is thought that the phosphorylation state of three threonine residues in the tail of myosin II heavy chain regulates the molecular motor's assembly state and localization. Phosphorylation of the myosin heavy chain at threonine residues 1823, 1833 and 2029 is responsible for maintaining myosin in the nonassembled state, and subsequent dephosphorylation of these residues is a prerequisite for assembly into the cytoskeleton. We report here the characterization of myosin heavy-chain phosphatase activities in Dictyostelium utilizing myosin II phosphorylated by myosin heavy-chain kinase A as a substrate. One of the myosin heavy-chain phosphatase activities was identified as protein phosphatase 2A and the purified holoenzyme was composed of a 37-kDa catalytic subunit, a 65-kDa A subunit and a 55-kDa B subunit. The protein phosphatase 2A holoenzyme displays two orders of magnitude higher activity towards myosin phosphorylated on the heavy chains than it does towards myosin phosphorylated on the regulatory light chains, consistent with a role in the control of filament assembly. The purified myosin heavy-chain phosphatase activity promotes bipolar filament assembly in vitro via dephosphorylation of the myosin heavy chain. This system should provide a valuable model for studying the regulation and localization of protein phosphatase 2A in the context of cytoskeletal reorganization.     

Involvement of tail domains in regulation of Dictyostelium myosin II

The actin-dependent ATPase activity of Dictyostelium myosin II filaments is regulated by phosphorylation of the regulatory light chain. Four deletion mutant myosins which lack different parts of subfragment 2 (S2) showed phosphorylation-independent elevations in their activities. Phosphorylation-independent elevation in the activity was also achieved by a double point mutation to replace conserved Glu932 and Glu933 in S2 with Lys. These results suggested that inhibitory interactions involving the head and S2 are required for efficient regulation. Regulation of wild-type myosin was not affected by copolymerization with a S2 deletion mutant myosin in the same filaments. Furthermore, the activity linearly correlated with the fraction of phosphorylated molecules in wild-type filaments. These latter two results suggest that the inhibitory head-tail interactions are primarily intramolecular.     

Role of the tail in the regulated state of myosin 2

Myosin 2 from vertebrate smooth muscle or non-muscle sources is in equilibrium between compact, inactive monomers and thick filaments under physiological conditions. In the inactive monomer, the two heads pack compactly together, and the long tail is folded into three closely packed segments that are associated chiefly with one of the heads. The molecular basis of the folding of the tail remains unexplained. By using electron microscopy, we show that compact monomers of smooth muscle myosin 2 have the same structure in both the native state and following specific, intramolecular photo-cross-linking between Cys109 of the regulatory light chain (RLC) and segment 3 of the tail. Nonspecific cross-linking between lysine residues of the folded monomer by glutaraldehyde also does not perturb the compact conformation and stabilizes it against unfolding at high ionic strength. Sequence comparisons across phyla and myosin 2 isoforms suggest that the folding of the tail is stabilized by ionic interactions between the positively charged N-terminal sequence of the RLC and a negatively charged region near the start of tail segment 3 and that phosphorylation of the RLC could perturb these interactions. Our results support the view that interactions between the heads and the distal tail perform a critical role in regulating activity of myosin 2 molecules through stabilizing the compact monomer conformation.     

Monoclonal antibodies binding to the tail of Dictyostelium discoideum myosin: their effects on antiparallel and parallel assembly and actin- activated ATPase activity

Eight monoclonal antibodies that bind to specific sites on the tail of Dictyostelium discoideum myosin were tested for their effects on polymerization and ATPase activity. Two antibodies that bind close to the myosin heads inhibited actin activation of the ATPase either partially or completely, without having an effect on polymerization. Two other antibodies bind to sites within the distal portion of the tail that has been shown, by cleavage mapping, to be important for polymerization. One of these antibodies binds close to the sites of heavy chain phosphorylation which is known to regulate both myosin polymerization and actin-activated ATPase activity. Both antibodies showed strong inhibition of polymerization accompanied by complete inhibition of the actin-activated ATPase activity. A unique effect was obtained with an antibody that binds to the end of the myosin tail. This antibody prevented the formation of bipolar filaments. It caused myosin to assemble into unipolar filaments with heads at one end and the antibody molecules at the other. Only at concentrations higher than required for its effect on polymerization did this antibody show substantial inhibition of the actin-activated ATPase. These results indicate that, using a monoclonal antibody as a blocking agent, parallel assembly of myosin can be dissected out from antiparallel association, and that essentially normal actin-activated ATPase activity could be obtained after significant reductions in filament size.     

Conformations of vertebrate striated muscle myosin monomers in equilibrium with filaments.

Porcine cardiac myosin monomers in equilibrium with filaments under physiological conditions were observed to have two conformations, extended and folded forms, upon electron microscopy and gel filtration HPLC. The conformational state was independent of ATP and the phosphorylation of regulatory light chain. The folded monomers of cardiac myosin were mainly in an open conformation with only one bend in the tail, and may not trap the hydrolysis products of ATP, as assessed by single turnover experiments. These properties are similar to those of the folded monomers of rabbit skeletal myosin [Katoh, T., Konishi, K., and Yazawa, M. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 11436-11439]. The conformational states of skeletal and cardiac myosin monomers were not affected by pH between 7.0 and 8.5. Although significant disassembly of filaments and thus an increase in the monomer concentration were observed with an increase in pH. The results indicate that the pH-dependent change in filament assembly is due to a shift of equilibrium between the filaments and extended monomers toward filament disassembly. The Mg2+-ATPase activity of these myosin monomers decreased with a decrease in the salt concentration below approximately 0.1 M, suggestive of the formation of a closed conformation similar to the conformation of 10S smooth myosin. The results suggest that the conformational change from the extended to the folded form is a common property of various myosin IIs.     

Monoclonal antibodies detect and stabilize conformational states of smooth muscle myosin

Antibodies with epitopes near the heavy meromyosin/light meromyosin junction distinguish the folded from the extended conformational states of smooth muscle myosin. Antibody 10S.1 has 100-fold higher avidity for folded than for extended myosin, while antibody S2.2 binds preferentially to the extended state. The properties of these antibodies provide direct evidence that the conformation of the rod is different in the folded than the extended monomeric state, and suggest that this perturbation may extend into the subfragment 2 region of the rod. Two antihead antibodies with epitopes on the heavy chain map at or near the head/rod junction. Magnesium greatly enhances the binding of these antibodies to myosin, showing that the conformation of the heavy chain in the neck region changes upon divalent cation binding to the regulatory light chain. Myosin assembly is also altered by antibody binding. Antibodies that bind to the central region of the rod block disassembly of filaments upon MgATP addition. Antibodies with epitopes near the COOH terminus of the rod, in contrast, promote filament depolymerization, suggesting that this region of the tail is important for assembly. The monoclonal antibodies described here are therefore useful both for detecting and altering conformational states of smooth muscle myosin.     

Functional role of the C-terminal domain of smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase on the phosphorylation of smooth muscle myosin

Smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) is known to bind to thin filaments and myosin filaments. Telokin, an independently expressed protein with an identical amino acid sequence to that of the C-terminal domain of MLCK, has been shown to bind to unphosphorylated smooth muscle myosin. Thus, the functional significance of the C-terminal domain and the molecular morphology of MLCK were examined in detail. The C-terminal domain was removed from MLCK by alpha-chymotryptic digestion, and the activity of the digested MLCK was measured using myosin or the isolated 20-kDa light chain (LC20) as a substrate. The results showed that the digestion increased K(m) for myosin 3-fold whereas it did not change the value for LC20. In addition, telokin inhibited the phosphorylation of myosin by MLCK by increasing K(m) but only slightly increased K(m) for LC20. Electron microscopy indicated that MLCK was an elongated molecule but was flexible so as to form folded conformations. MLCK was crosslinked to unphosphorylated heavy meromyosin with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide in the absence of Ca(2+)/calmodulin (CaM), and electron microscopic observation of the products revealed that the MLCK molecule bound to the head-tail junction of heavy meromyosin. These results suggest that MLCK binds to the head-tail junction of unphosphorylated myosin through its C-terminal domain, where LC20 can be promptly phosphorylated through its catalytic domain following the Ca(2+)/CaM-dependent activation.     

Actin and myosin: control of filament assembly

Actin filaments, assembled from highly purified actin from either skeletal muscle or Dictyostelium amoebae, are very stable under physiological ionic conditions. A small and limited amount of exchange of actin filament subunits for unpolymerized actin or subunits in other filaments has been measured by three techniques: fluorescence energy transfer, incorporation of 35S-labelled actin monomers into unlabelled actin filaments, and exchange of [14C]ATP with filament-bound ADP. A 40 kDa protein purified from amoebae destabilizes these otherwise stable filaments in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Myosin purified from Dictyostelium amoebae is phosphorylated both in the tail region of the heavy chain and in one of the light chains. Phosphorylation appears to regulate myosin thick-filament formation.     

Myosin heavy chain kinase from developed Dictyostelium cells. Purification and characterization

We purified to homogeneity the Dictyostelium discoideum myosin heavy chain kinase that is implicated in the heavy chain phosphorylation increases that occur during chemotaxis. The kinase is initially found in the insoluble fraction of developed cells. The major purification step was achieved by affinity chromatography using a tail fragment of Dictyostelium myosin (LMM58) expressed in Escherichia coli (De Lozanne, A., Berlot, C. H., Leinwand, L. A., and Spudich, J. A. (1988) J. Cell Biol. 105, 2990-3005). The kinase has an apparent molecular weight of 84,000 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The apparent native molecular weight by gel filtration is 240,000. The kinase catalyzes phosphorylation of myosin heavy chain or LMM58 with similar kinetics, and the extent of phosphorylation for both is 4 mol of phosphate/mol. With both substrates the Vmax is about 18 mumol/min/mg and the Km is 15 microM. The myosin heavy chain kinase is specific to Dictyostelium myosin heavy chain, and the phosphorylated amino acid is threonine. The kinase undergoes autophosphorylation. Each mole of kinase subunit incorporates about 20 mol of phosphates. Phosphorylation of myosin by this kinase inhibits myosin thick filament formation, suggesting that the kinase plays a role in the regulation of myosin assembly.     

Proteolytic fragmentation of brain myosin and localisation of the heavy-chain phosphorylation site

The heavy chains and the 19-kDa and 20-kDa light chains of bovine brain myosin can by phosphorylated. To localise the site of heavy-chain phosphorylation, the myosin was initially subjected to digestion with chymotrypsin and papain under a variety of conditions and the fragments thus produced were identified. Irrespective of the ionic strength, i.e. whether the myosin was monomeric or filamentous, chymotryptic digestion produced two major fragments of 68 kDa and 140 kDa; the 140-kDa fragment was further digested by papain to yield a 120-kDa and a 23-kDa fragment. These fragments were characterised by (a) a gel overlay technique using 125I-labelled light chains, which showed that the 140-kDa and 23-kDa polypeptides contain the light-chain-binding sites; (b) using myosin photoaffinity labelled at the active site with [3H]UTP, which showed that the 68-kDa fragment contained the catalytic site, and (c) electron microscopy, using rotary shadowing and negative-staining techniques, which demonstrated that after chymotryptic digestion the myosin head remains attached to the tail whereas on papain digestion isolated heads and tails were observed. Thus the 120-kDa polypeptide derived from the 140-kDa fragment is the tail of the myosin, and the 68-kDa fragment containing the catalytic site and the 23-kDa fragment, with the light-chain-binding sites, form the head (S1) portion of the myosin. When [32P]-phosphorylated brain myosin was digested with chymotrypsin and papain it was shown that the heavy-chain phosphorylation site is located in a 5-kDa peptide at the C-terminal end of the heavy chain, i.e. the end of the myosin tail. Using hydrodynamic and electron microscopic techniques, no significant effect of either light-chain or heavy-chain phosphorylation on the stability of brain myosin filaments was observed, even in the presence of MgATP. Brain myosin filaments appear to be more stable than those of other non-muscle myosins. Light-chain phosphorylation did, however, have an effect on the conformation of brain myosin, for example in the presence of MgATP non-phosphorylated myosin molecules were induced to fold into a very compact folded state.     

Metastasis-associated protein Mts1 (S100A4) inhibits CK2-mediated phosphorylation and self-assembly of the heavy chain of nonmuscle myosin

A role for EF-hand calcium-binding protein Mts1 (S100A4) in the phosphorylation and the assembly of myosin filaments was studied. The nonmuscle myosin molecules form bipolar filaments, which interact with actin filaments to produce a contractile force. Phosphorylation of the myosin plays a regulatory role in the myosin assembly. In the presence of calcium, Mts1 binds at the C-terminal end of the myosin heavy chain close to the site of phosphorylation by protein kinase CK2 (Ser1944). In the present study, we have shown that interaction of Mts1 with the human platelet myosin or C-terminal fragment of the myosin heavy chain inhibits phosphorylation of the myosin heavy chain by protein kinase CK2 in vitro. Mts1 might also bind directly the beta subunit of protein kinase CK2, thereby modifying the enzyme activity. Our results indicate that myosin oligomers were disassembled in the presence of Mts1. The short C-terminal fragment of the myosin heavy chain was totally soluble in the presence of an equimolar amount of Mts1 at low ionic conditions (50 mM NaCl). Depolymerization was found to be calcium-dependent and could be blocked by EGTA. Our data suggest that Mts1 can increase myosin solubility and therefore suppress its assembly.     

A nucleation--elongation mechanism for the self-assembly of side polar sheets of smooth muscle myosin.

Self-assembled filaments of smooth muscle myosin were observed by low dose electron microscopy to be flat side-polar sheets, in which the component molecules appeared straight and close-packed. Fraying experiments released small oligomers, in which molecules were staggered in parallel by about +/- 14 nm relative to two immediate neighbours, and were bound also to an antiparallel partner via a approximately 14 nm overlap at the very tip of the tail. We suggest a filament model which preserves these packing relationships. Adding stoichiometric amounts of MgATP to the filaments caused them to disassemble completely by progressive loss of material from their ends, at a limiting rate equivalent to about 2 monomers per second per end in physiological saline. The rate of the competing association reaction varied linearly with the monomer concentration, as determined in pressure-jump experiments. This suggests that myosin monomers, rather than dimers or higher oligomers, are the building blocks of these filaments. Shearing and annealing of assembled filaments appeared negligible on a time scale of a few hours. In consequence, filament number and filament length were dependent on the rate at which monomers were supplied to the assembly reaction, and on the number of filaments already present at the start of the assembly reaction.     

Regulation in vitro of brush border myosin by light chain phosphorylation

Myosin was purified from chicken brush border cells to greater than 95% homogeneity and in a predominantly non-phosphorylated state. The effects of light chain phosphorylation by a Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent myosin light chain kinase on the conformational, enzymatic and filament assembly properties of this myosin were investigated. The actin-activated MgATPase activity of the non-phosphorylated myosin was low, and upon light chain phosphorylation an eight- to ninefold increase in this activity was observed, which was further potentiated by tropomyosin. Light chain phosphorylation was shown to control the assembly and disassembly of brush border myosin filaments. For example, turbidity measurements and electron microscopy demonstrated that MgATP disassembled non-phosphorylated myosin filaments; the disassembled myosin could reassemble when the light chains were phosphorylated, and could be disassembled again by dephosphorylating the light chains with phosphatase. In the electron microscope, the disassembled non-phosphorylated myosin molecules appeared in a folded conformation, and they were extended when phosphorylated. Proteolytic digestion was used to probe further the conformation of these folded and extended molecules, and their subunit organizations were characterized by a gel overlay technique. Quantitative analysis further demonstrated that light chain phosphorylation alters dramatically the monomer/polymer equilibrium of brush border myosin, shifting it towards filament formation. Comparison of analogous data for myosin from gizzard and thymus shows that each myosin has distinct solubility properties.     

Actin activation of myosin heavy chain kinase A in Dictyostelium: a biochemical mechanism for the spatial regulation of myosin II filament disassembly

Studies in Dictyostelium discoideum have established that the cycle of myosin II bipolar filament assembly and disassembly controls the temporal and spatial localization of myosin II during critical cellular processes, such as cytokinesis and cell locomotion. Myosin heavy chain kinase A (MHCK A) is a key enzyme regulating myosin II filament disassembly through myosin heavy chain phosphorylation in Dictyostelium. Under various cellular conditions, MHCK A is recruited to actin-rich cortical sites and is preferentially enriched at sites of pseudopod formation, and thus MHCK A is proposed to play a role in regulating localized disassembly of myosin II filaments in the cell. MHCK A possesses an aminoterminal coiled-coil domain that participates in the oligomerization, cellular localization, and actin binding activities of the kinase. In the current study, we show that the interaction between the coiled-coil domain of MHCK A and filamentous actin leads to an approximately 40-fold increase in the initial rate of kinase catalytic activity. Actin-mediated activation of MHCK A involves increased rates of kinase autophosphorylation and requires the presence of the coiled-coil domain. Structure-function analyses revealed that the coiled-coil domain alone binds to actin filaments (apparent K(D) = 0.9 microm) and thus mediates the direct interaction with F-actin required for MHCK A activation. Collectively, these results indicate that MHCK A recruitment to actin-rich sites could lead to localized activation of the kinase via direct interaction with actin filaments, and thus this mode of kinase regulation may represent an important mechanism by which the cell achieves localized disassembly of myosin II filaments required for specific changes in cell shape.     

Myosin heavy chain kinase B participates in the regulation of myosin assembly into the cytoskeleton

Myosin II plays critical roles in events such as cytokinesis, chemotactic migration, and morphological changes during multicellular development. The amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum provides a simple system for the study of this contractile protein. In this system, myosin II filament assembly is regulated by myosin heavy chain (MHC) phosphorylation in the tail region of the molecule. Earlier studies identified an alpha-kinase, MHC kinase A (MHCK A), which phosphorylates three mapped threonine residues in the myosin tail, driving myosin disassembly. Using molecular and genomic approaches, we have identified a series of related kinases in Dictyostelium. The enzyme MHCK B shares with MHCK A a domain organization that includes a highly novel catalytic domain coupled to a carboxyl-terminal WD repeat domain. We have engineered, expressed, and purified a FLAG-tagged version of the novel kinase. In the present study, we report detailed biochemical and cellular studies documenting that MHCK B plays a physiological role in the control of Dictyostelium myosin II assembly and disassembly during the vegetative life of Dictyostelium amoebae. The presented data supports a model of multiple related MHCKs in this system, with different regulatory mechanisms and pathways controlling each enzyme.