Transient-kinetic studies of the adenosine triphosphatase activity of scallop heavy meromyosin.

Fluorescence stopped-flow experiments were performed to elucidate the elementary steps of the ATPase mechanism of scallop heavy meromyosin in the presence and in the absence of Ca2+. ATP binding and hydrolysis, as monitored by the change in tryptophan fluorescence, appear to be Ca2+-insensitive, whereas both Pi release and ADP release are markedly suppressed in the absence of Ca2+. Rate constants for Pi release are 0.2 s-1 and 0.002 s-1 and for ADP release are 6 s-1 and 0.01 s-1 in the presence and in the absence of Ca2+ respectively. Ca2+ binding to the specific site of the regulatory domain is rapid and its release occurs at 25 s-1, consistent with the time scale of a twitch of the striated adductor muscle. Nucleotide binding is a multi-step process requiring a minimum of three states. In such a model Ca2+ controls the rate of conformational changes at the active site in both the forward and the reverse direction, leading to a large dependence of the rate of nucleotide release, but a lesser effect on the overall equilibrium position. The kinetic trapping of nucleotides and Pi at the active site, in the absence of Ca2+, appears to be a fundamental step in suppressing the interaction of the myosin head with the thin filaments in relaxed molluscan muscle.     

Temperature induced transition of the pH-activity curve of heavy meromyosin adenosine triphosphatase and inosine triphosphatase.

The pH-activity curve of heavy meromyosin ATPase [EC 3.6.1.3] was measured at various temperatures. The pH-activity curve at higher temperatures showed a maximum at low pH and a minimum at pH 7 to 8 as has been already reported. At lower temperatures it was sigmoidal in shape, similar to a simple dissociation curve of pKa 6 to 7. The pH-activity curve at intermediate temperatures appeared to be inbetween the two extreme shapes. These changes in pH-activity curve with temperature were found to be common in the presence of divalent cations such as Mg2+, Mn2+, and Ca2+. The ATPase mechanism may be identical in the presence of any divalent cation, and the rate determining step revealing the steady state rate alters by changing the temperature. The transition temperatures estimated at pH 8 were 10 degrees, 8 degrees, and about 5 degrees in the presence of MnCl2, CaCl2, and MgCl2, respectively. The difference in the temperature coefficients above and below the transition temperature was most distinct in the presence of MnCl2, and vague in the presence of CaCl2. A similar change of pH-activity curve with temperature was found with heavy meromyosin ITPase in the presence of MgCl2.     

Cross-linking of actin filaments by heavy meromyosin.

The structure of acto-heavy meromyosin has been examined by electron microscopy. When heavy meromyosin is mixed with actin at ~ 2 mg/ml a gel is formed. At lower actin concentrations more ordered assemblies are formed in which the actin filaments are in “rafts” about 300 Å apart cross-linked by heavy meromyosin. These results indicate that in solution the two heads of a heavy meromyosin molecule can bind to different actin filaments.     

Kinetic trapping of intermediates of the scallop heavy meromyosin adenosine triphosphatase reaction revealed by formycin nucleotides.

The kinetics of interaction of formycin nucleotides with scallop myosin subfragments were investigated by exploiting the fluorescence signal of the ligand. Formycin triphosphate gives a 5-fold enhancement of the emission intensity on binding to heavy meromyosin, and the profile indicates that the kinetics of binding are Ca2+-insensitive. In contrast, the subsequent product-release steps show a marked degree of regulation by Ca2+. In the absence of Ca2+ formycin triphosphate turnover by the unregulated and the regulated heavy meromyosin fractions are clearly resolved, the latter showing a fluorescence decay rate of 0.002 s-1, corresponding to the Pi-release step. In the presence of Ca2+ this step is activated 50-fold. Formycin diphosphate release is also regulated by Ca2+, being activated from 0.008 s-1 to 5 s-1. In contrast with protein tryptophan fluorescence [Jackson & Bagshaw (1988) Biochem. J. 251, 515-526], formycin fluorescence is sensitive to conformational changes that occur subsequent to the binding step and demonstrate, directly, an effect of Ca2+ on both forward and reverse rate constants. Apart from a decrease in the apparent second-order association rate constants, formycin derivatives appear to mimic adenosine nucleotides closely in their interaction with scallop heavy meromyosin and provide a spectroscopic handle on steps that are optically silent with respect to protein fluorescence. A novel mechanism is discussed in which regulation of the formycin triphosphate activity by Ca2+ involves kinetic trapping of product complexes.     

Temperature induced analog reaction of adenylyl imidodiphosphate to an intermediate step of heavy meromyosin adenosine triphosphatase.

The UV absorption difference spectrum of heavy meromyosin induced by adenylyl imidodiphosphate (AMP-PNP) was found to be changed by temperature. At higher temperatures, the shape of the difference spectrum resembled the ATP-form of difference spectrum induced by ATP. At lower temperatures, a different shape was observed, resembling that induced by ADP. This temperature transition was found in the presence of both MgCl2 and MnCl2. The transition temperatures, were 21 degrees and 9 degrees in the presence of MnCl2 and MgCl2, respectively. A similar temperature dependence was observed with the difference spectrum induced by ATP at the steady state. The transition temperatures in this case were 11 degrees and 4.5 degrees in the presence of MnCl2 and MgCl2, respectively. The similarity of the effects of the two kinds of divalent cation on both transitions indicates that the temperature induced transition between two species of heavy meromyosin-AMP-PNP complex mimics the step in APTase [EC 3.6.1.3] reaction in which the intermediate complex showing the ATP-form of difference spectrum changes to that showing the ADP-form. The equilibrium constant of the decay step of the ATP-form of difference spectrum to the ADP-form in ATPase is, therefore, thought to be highly temperature dependent. Thermodynamic parameters were calculated for the transition between the two species of heavy meromyosin AMP-PNP complex. Large decreases in enthalpy and entropy were observed, while the standard free energy change was small. The results suggest that the intermediate showing the ATP-form of difference spectrum hardly changes to the forward direction in the ATPase reaction at higher temperature. The complex appears to be so stable in the steady state that almost all the myosin is present as this complex. The decay step in ATPase of the difference spectrum from the ATP-form to to the ADP-form may be coupled to muscular contraction. The temperature induced transition of heavy meromyosin AMP-PNP complex may, therefore, provide information concerning the state of myosin in active muscles.     

Intermediate states of actomyosin adenosine triphosphatase.

The early kinetic steps of actomyosin subfragment 1 (acto-S1) adenosine triphosphatase have been investigated by simultaneous monitoring of fluorescence and light scattering and also by observation of the time course of the production of phosphate. The results show that fluorescence enhancement occurs after the dissociation of actomyosin and that the rate of enhancement is similar to the maximum rate of enhancement for S1 alone, under similar conditions of pH and temperature. The maximum rate of the phosphate burst for acto S1 is also approximately the same as that for S1 alone. The maximum rates for fluorescence enhancement or phosphate formation are reached at much lower adenosine triphosphate concentrations for acto-S1 than for S1. An extension of the actomyosin scheme is presented which accounts for these results.     

Activation and inhibition of mitochondrial adenosine triphosphatase by various anions and other agents

The activating or inhibiting actions of a variety of anion species and of oligomycin, aurovertin and Dio-9 on the ATPase of a sonic particle preparation of rat liver mitochondria have been characterized by measurements of the relevantV _max,K _i andK _m values.The normalV _max was increased by a factor near 7 by the anions: dichromate, chromate, pyrophosphate, orthophosphate, orthoarsenate and sulphate. The fully activating concentration varied from about 2 mM for dichromate to 150 mM for sulphate. The increase inV _max was accompanied by a time-dependent decrease in (K _i)ADP, but there was no change in (K _m)ATP. The increase inV _max by the activating anions was abolished by aurovertin; but in presence of oligomycin, the lowV _max was increased by the activating anions by the same factor as theV _max in absence of oligomycin.Certain anions, notably azide, decreasedV _max, but did not affect (K _i)ADP or (K _m)ATP. The decrease inV _max by azide and oligomycin were approximately additive. Even at high concentration, Dio-9 was without detectable effect on the ATPase, but it had a gramicidinlike effect on the intact mitochondria.The specificity of the ATPase for ATP relative to GTP was found to be attributable to the high value of (V _max)ATP compared with (V _max)GTP. The values of (K _m)ATP and (K _m)GTP were virtually the same.Some rationalization of these and other supporting observations is attempted in terms of present knowledge of the constitution of the ATPase complex.     

Interaction of anthracycline antibiotics with actin and heavy meromyosin.

For the purpose of elucidating the biochemical mechanism of anthracycline cardiomyopathy, the interaction with actin and heavy meromyosin (HMM) was studied. HMM and acto-HMM Mg²⁺-ATPase reactions were inhibited by daunorubicin and adriamycin; but not significantly by aclacinomycin A. The three antibiotics induced G-actin polymerization. Difference absorption spectra showed a direct interaction of adriamycin or aclacinomycin A with actin or HMM. Equilibrium dialysis and spectrofluorometric studies indicated that actin monomer possesses one binding site for adriamycin or aclacinomycin A with the same order of association constants (1.4 – 7.2 × 10⁴ M^?1). Adriamycin exhibited significantly higher affinity for HMM than aclacinomycin A.     

Interaction of actin with myosin A and heavy meromyosin.

Ca2+ "free" actomyosin suspensions as well as actin heavy meromyosin (HMM) solutions in the presence of Ca2+ showed no contractile response (superprecipitation) and had low steady-state Mg2+-ATPase activity. Under the same experimental conditions both the enzymatic activity increased and contractile response was restored if the solubility of the proteins was depressed by the addition of polyethylene glycol 4000 (PEG-4000). The stability of the enzymatically active actomyosin or actin HMM complexes was 10 times lower in cleared solutions than in the insoluble actomyosin or actin HMM suspensions. It was concluded that soluble actomyosin or actin HMM solutions are inadequate test tube models for studying muscular contraction.