Purification and characterization of a sea urchin egg Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent kinase with myosin light chain phosphorylating activity

The crude actomyosin precipitate from sea urchin (Arbacia punctulata) egg extracts contains Ca2+-sensitive myosin light chain kinase activity. Activity can be further increased by exogenous calmodulin (CaM). Egg myosin light chain kinase activity is purified from total egg extract by fractionating on three different chromatographic columns: DEAE ion exchange, gel filtration on Sephacryl-300, and Affi-Gel-CaM affinity. The purified egg kinase depends totally on Ca2+ and CaM for activity. Unphosphorylated egg myosin has very little actin-activated ATPase. After phosphorylation of the phosphorylable light chain by either egg kinase or gizzard myosin light chain kinase, the actin-activated ATPase of egg myosin is enhanced several fold. However, the egg kinase bears some unique characteristics which are very different from conventional myosin light chain kinases of differentiated tissues. The purified egg kinase has a native molecular mass of 405 kDa, while on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis it shows a single subunit of 56 kDa. The affinity of egg kinase for CaM (Ka = 0.4 microM) is relatively weaker than that of the gizzard myosin light chain kinase. The egg kinase autophosphorylates in the presence of Ca2+ and CaM and has a rather broad substrate specificity. The possible relationship between this egg Ca2+-CaM-dependent kinase and the Ca2+-CaM-dependent kinases from brain and liver is discussed.     

Ca2+, calmodulin and cyclic AMP-dependent modulation of actin-myosin interactions in aorta

Incubation of bovine aortic native actomyosin with cyclic AMP and bovine aortic cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase produced a rightward shift in the relation between free Ca2+ and both superprecipitation and actomyosin ATPase activity. The relation between free Ca2+ and phosphorylation of myosin light chains was also shifted to the right. The concentration of free Ca2+ required for half-maximal activation of both ATPase activity and myosin light chain phosphorylation was approximately 1.0 microM for control actomyosin and 2.5 microM for actomyosin incubated with cyclic AMP-protein kinase. Neither basal nor maximal activities were significantly affected by incubation with cyclic AMP-protein kinase. Addition of e microM calmodulin to cyclic AMP-protein kinase-treated actomyosin relieved inhibition of both superprecipitation and myosin light chain phosphorylation. These findings suggest that cyclic AMP-protein kinase-mediated inhibition of actin-myosin interactions in vascular smooth muscle involve a shift in the Ca2+ sensitivity of the system. This shift probably involves Ca2+-calmodulin interactions and the control of phosphorylation of the myosin light chains.     

Smooth muscle calponin. Inhibition of actomyosin MgATPase and regulation by phosphorylation

Calponin isolated from chicken gizzard smooth muscle inhibits the actin-activated MgATPase activity of smooth muscle myosin in a reconstituted system composed of contractile and regulatory proteins. ATPase inhibition is not due to inhibition of myosin phosphorylation since, at calponin concentrations sufficient to cause maximal ATPase inhibition, myosin phosphorylation was unaffected. Furthermore, calponin inhibited the actin-activated MgATPase of fully phosphorylated or thiophosphorylated myosin. Although calponin is a Ca2(+)-binding protein, inhibition did not require Ca2+. Furthermore, although calponin also binds to tropomyosin, ATPase inhibition was not dependent on the presence of tropomyosin. Calponin was phosphorylated in vitro by protein kinase C and Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, but not by cAMP- or cGMP-dependent protein kinases, or myosin light chain kinase. Phosphorylation of calponin by either kinase resulted in loss of its ability to inhibit the actomyosin ATPase. The phosphorylated protein retained calmodulin and tropomyosin binding capabilities, but actin binding was greatly reduced. The calponin-actin interaction, therefore, appears to be responsible for inhibition of the actomyosin ATPase. These observations suggest that calponin may be involved in regulating actin-myosin interaction and, therefore, the contractile state of smooth muscle. Calponin function in turn is regulated by Ca2(+)-dependent phosphorylation.     

Phosphorylation of uterine smooth muscle myosin permits actin-activation.

Myosin was purified from ovine uterine smooth muscle. The 20,000 dalton myosin light chain was phosphorylated to varying degrees by an endogenous Ca2+ dependent kinase. The kinase and endogenous phosphatases were then removed via column chromatography. In the absence of actin neither the size of the initial phosphate burst nor the steady state Mg2+-dependent ATPase activity were affected by phosphorylation. However, phosphorylation was required for actin to increase the Mg2+-dependent ATPase activity and for the myosin to superprecipitate with actin. Ca2+ did not affect the Mg2+-dependent ATPase activity in the presence or absence of action or the rate or extent of superprecipitation with actin once phosphorylation was obtained. These data indicate that: 1) phosphorylation of the 20,000 dalton myosin light chain controls the uterine smooth muscle actomyosin interaction, 2) in the absence of actin, phosphorylation does not affect either the ATPase of myosin or the size of the initial burst of phosphate and, 3) Ca2+ is important in controlling the light chain kinase but not the actomyosin interaction.     

Regulation of embryonic smooth muscle myosin by protein kinase C

Phosphorylation of the 20-kDa light chain regulates adult smooth muscle myosin; phosphorylation by the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent enzyme myosin light chain kinase stimulates the actomyosin ATPase activity of adult smooth muscle myosin; the simultaneous phosphorylation of a separate site on the 20-kDa light chain by the Ca2+/phospholipid-dependent enzyme protein kinase C attenuates the myosin light chain kinase-induced increase in the actomyosin ATPase activity of adult myosin. Fetal smooth muscle myosin, purified from 12-day-old fertilized chicken eggs, is structurally different from adult smooth muscle myosin. Nevertheless, phosphorylation of a single site on the 20-kDa light chain of fetal myosin by myosin light chain kinase results in stimulation of the actomyosin ATPase activity of this myosin. Protein kinase C, in contrast, phosphorylates three sites on the fetal myosin 20-kDa light chain including a serine or threonine residue on the same peptide phosphorylated by myosin light chain kinase. Interestingly, phosphorylation by protein kinase C stimulates the actomyosin ATPase activity of fetal myosin. Moreover, unlike adult myosin, there is no attenuation of the actomyosin ATPase activity when fetal myosin is simultaneously phosphorylated by myosin light chain kinase and protein kinase C. These data demonstrate, for the first time, the in vitro activation of a smooth muscle myosin by another enzyme besides myosin light chain kinase and raise the possibility of alternate pathways for regulating smooth muscle myosin in vivo.     

Effects of Ca2+ and Mg2+ on the actomyosin adenosine-5'-triphosphatase of stably phosphorylated gizzard myosin

There are conflicting reports on the effect of Ca2+ on actin activation of myosin adenosine-triphosphatase (ATPase) once the light chain is fully phosphorylated by a calcium calmodulin dependent kinase. Using thiophosphorylated gizzard myosin, Sherry et al. [Sherry, J. M. F., Gorecka, A., Aksoy, M. O., Dabrowska, R., & Hartshorne, D. J. (1978) Biochemistry 17, 4417-4418] observed that the actin activation of ATPase was not inhibited by the removal of Ca2+. Hence, it was suggested that the regulation of actomyosin ATPase activity of gizzard myosin by calcium occurs only via phosphorylation. In the present study, phosphorylated and thiophosphorylated myosins were prepared free of kinase and phosphatase activity; hence, the ATPase activity could be measured at various concentrations of Ca2+ and Mg2+ without affecting the level of phosphorylation. The ATPase activity of myosin was activated either by skeletal muscle or by gizzard actin at various concentrations of Mg2+ and either at pCa 5 or at pCa 8. The activation was sensitive to Ca2+ at low Mg2+ concentrations with both actins. Tropomyosin potentiated the actin-activated ATPase activity at all Mg2+ and Ca2+ concentrations. The calcium sensitivity of phosphorylated and thiophosphorylated myosin reconstituted with actin and tropomyosin was most pronounced at a free Mg2+ concentration of about 3 mM. The binding of 125I-tropomyosin to actin showed that the calcium sensitivity of ATPase observed at low Mg2+ concentration is not due to a calcium-mediated binding of tropomyosin to F-actin. The actin activation of both myosins was insensitive to Ca2+ when the Mg2+ concentration was increased above 5 mM.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The phosphorylated L2 light chain of skeletal myosin is a modifier of the actomyosin ATPase

Incubation of rabbit skeletal myosin with an extract of light chain kinase plus ATP phosphorylated the L2 light chain and modified the steady state kinetics of the actomyosin ATPase. With regulated actin, the ATPase activity of phosphorylated myosin (P-myosin) was 35 to 181% greater than that of unphosphorylated myosin when assayed with 0.05 to 5 micro M Ca2+. Phosphorylation had no effect on the Ca2+ concentration required for half-maximal activity, but it did increase the ATPase activity at low Ca2+. With pure actin, the percentage of increase in the actomyosin ATPase activity correlated with the percentage of phosphorylation of myosin. Steady state kinetic analyses of the actomyosin system indicated that 50 to 82% phosphorylation of myosin decreased significantly the Kapp of actin for myosin with no significant effect on the Vmax. Phosphorylaton of heavy meromyosin similarly modified the steady state kinetics of the acto-heavy meromyosin system. Both the K+/EDTA- and Mg-ATPase activities of P-myosin and phosphorylated heavy meromyosin were within normal limits indicating that phosphorylaiion had not altered significantly the hydrolytic site. Phosphatase treatment of P-myosin decreased both the level of phosphorylation of L2 and the actomyosin ATPase activity to control levels for unphosphorylated myosin. It is concluded levels for unphosphorylated myosin. It is concluded from these results that the ability of P-myosin to modify the steady state kinetics of the actomyosin ATPase was: 1) specific for phosphorylation; 2) independent of the thin filament regulatory proteins.     

Calcium regulation of porcine aortic myosin

Calcium regulation of actin-activated porcine aortic myosin MgATPase was studied. The MgATPase of the purified actomyosin was stimulated about 10-fold by 0.1 mM Ca2+. The 20,000 molecular weight light chain subunit (LC20) of myosin was phosphorylated by an endogenous kinase that required Ca2+. Half-maximal activation of both kinase and ATPase occurred at about 0.9 microM Ca2+. Phosphorylated and unphosphorylated myosins, free of actin, kinase, and phosphatase, were purified by gel filtration. The MgATPase of phosphorylated myosin was activated by rabbit skeletal muscle actin; unphosphorylated myosin was actin activated to a much lesser extent. Actin activation was maximal in the presence of Ca2+. Regulation of the aortic myosin MgATPase seems to involve both direct interaction of calcium with phosphorylated myosin and calcium activation of the myosin kinase. The MgATPase of trypsin-treated actomyosin did not require Ca2+ for full activity. The trypsin-treated actomyosin was devoid of LC20. When purified unphosphorylated aortic myosin was treated with trypsin, the LC20, was cleaved and the MgATPase, which was not appreciably actin activated before exposure to protease, was increased and was activated by skeletal muscle actin. After incubation of this light chain-depleted myosin with light chain from rabbit skeletal muscle myosin, the actin activation but not the increased activity, was abolished. Unphosphorylated LC20 seems to inhibit actin activation in this smooth muscle.     

Phosphorylation of myosin light chain and the actin-activated ATPase activity of adrenal medullary myosin

Myosin light chain kinase was partially purified from bovine adrenal medulla. A polypeptide of Mr 165,000 dalton was identified as kinase by using anti-gizzard myosin light chain kinase IgG on immunoreplica. Phosphorylation of medullary myosin was Ca2+- and calmodulin-dependent. The phosphorylated myosin was showed to enhance the actin-activated Mg2+-ATPase activity. In contrast, the myosin ATPase activity was dramatically decreased by dephosphorylation of myosin.     

Enhancement of the actin-activated ATPase activity of myosin from canine cardiac ventricle by purealin

The effects of purealin isolated from the sea sponge, Psammaplysilla purea, on the enzymatic properties of myosin and natural actomyosin (a complex of myosin, actin, tropomyosin and troponin) from canine cardiac ventricle were studied. Purealin increased the ATPase activity of natural actomyosin and the actin-activated ATPase activity of myosin, and accelerated the superprecipitation of natural actomyosin. The Ca2+- and Mg2+-ATPase activities of myosin were inhibited by purealin, whereas the K+-EDTA-ATPase activity was increased. These results suggest that purealin binds to the myosin portion involved in actin-myosin interaction and increases the actin-activated ATPase activity of myosin.     

Myosin and actin from ascidian smooth muscle and their interaction

Myosin and actin were purified from ascidian smooth muscle. Ascidian myosin contained two classes of light chains and the pH dependence of Ca2+-activated ATPase and the KCl dependence of actin-activated ATPase of ascidian myosin differed from those of vertebrate skeletal myosin. Troponin-tropomyosin complex from ascidian increased the ATPase activity of ascidian reconstituted actomyosin in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Ascidian myosin provided the reconstituted actomyosin with the responsiveness to calcium ions. Two actin isoforms were present in ascidian, which were distinguished by isoelectric points.     

Macrophage myosin. Regulation of actin-activated ATPase, activity by phosphorylation of the 20,000-dalton light chain.

Myosin was purified from rabbit alveolar macrophages in a form that could not be activated by actin. This myosin could be phosphorylated by an endogenous myosin light chain kinase, up to 2 mol of phosphate being incorporated/mol of myosin. The site phosphorylated was located on the 20,000-dalton myosin light chain. Phosphorylation of macrophage myosin was found to be necessary for actin activation of myosin ATPase activity. Moreover, the actin-activated ATPase activity was found to vary directly with the extent of myosin phosphorylation, maximal phosphorylation (2 mol of Pi/mol of myosin) resulting in an actin-activated MgATPase activity of approximately 200 nmol of Pi/mg of myosin/min at 37 degrees C. These results establish that phosphyoyration of the 20,000-dalton light chain of myosin is sufficient to regulate the actin-activated ATPase activity of macrophage myosin.     

Calcium/calmodulin regulation of ATPase activity and endogenous phosphorylation of mammalian brain actomyosin

Rabbit brain actomyosin showed several fold stimulation of the MgATPase activity by Ca2+ alone and by Ca2+/calmodulin. The calmodulin-binding drug, fluphenazine, abolished the stimulated activity. In the presence of Ca2+, exogenous calmodulin had a biphasic effect on ATPase activity at low concentrations (less than 0.15 microM) and activated the ATPase activity by 60-70% at about 1 microM. Tropomyosin-troponin complex from skeletal muscle did not stimulate the ATPase activity of brain actomyosin, but conferred Ca2+ sensitivity to a skeletal muscle myosin/brain actomyosin mixture. These results indicate the presence of myosin-linked, calmodulin-dependent, Ca2+-regulatory system for brain actomyosin. Heavy and light chains of brain myosin were found to be rapidly phosphorylated by endogenous Ca2+-dependent protein kinase(s). Ca2+-independent phosphorylation of one of the light chains was also observed.     

Phosphorylation of bovine platelet myosin by protein kinase C

Bovine platelet myosin is phosphorylated by protein kinase C at multiple sites. Most of the phosphate is incorporated in the 20,000-dalton light chain although some phosphate is incorporated in the heavy chain. Phosphorylation of the 20,000-dalton light chain of platelet myosin is 10 times faster than the phosphorylation of smooth muscle myosin. Platelet myosin light chain is first phosphorylated at a threonine residue followed by a serine residue. Dominant phosphorylation sites of the 20,000-dalton light chain are estimated as serine-1, serine-2, and threonine-9. Prolonged phosphorylation by protein kinase C resulted in an additional phosphorylation site which, on the basis of limited proteolysis, appears to be either serine-19 or threonine-18. Phosphorylation by protein kinase C causes an inhibition of actin-activated ATPase activity of platelet myosin prephosphorylated by myosin light chain kinase. Inhibition of ATPase activity is due to a decreased affinity of myosin for actin, and no change in Vmax is observed. It is shown that platelet myosin also exhibits the 6S to 10S conformation transition as judged by viscosity and gel filtration methods. Mg2(+)-ATPase activity of platelet myosin is paralleled with the 10S-6S transition. Phosphorylation by protein kinase C affects neither the 10S-6S transition nor the myosin filament formation. Therefore, the inhibition of actin-activated ATPase activity of platelet myosin is not due to the change in the myosin conformation.     

Effect of myosin DTNB light chain on the actin-myosin interaction in the presence of ATP.

The influence of the DTNB light chain of myosin on its enzymatic activities was examined by studying the superprecipitation of actomyosin and the actin-activated ATPase of heavy meromyosin (HMM) [EC 3.6.1.3]. Although the Ca2+-, Mg2+-, and EDTA-ATPase activities of control and DTNB myosin were practically the same, the superprecipitation of actomyosin prepared from actin and DTNB myosin occurred more slowly than that of control myosin. The apparent binding constant obtained from double-reciprocal plots of actin-activated ATPase of DTNB HMM was lower than that of control HMM. Recombination of DTNB myosin and HMM with DTNB light chains restored the original properties of myosin and HMM. The removal of DTNB light chain from myosin had no effect on the formation of the rigor complex between actin and myosin. These results suggest that the DTNB light chain participates in the interaction of myosin with actin in the presence of ATP.     

A protein-bound polysaccharide from Basidiomycetes enhances myosin phosphorylation but inhibits myosin ATPase activity: studies with a crude actomyosin preparation of chicken gizzard smooth muscle.

Chicken gizzard actomyosin, containing the calmodulin-myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) system, was incubated in the presence of various concentrations of PSK, a protein-bound polysaccharide from Basidiomycetes, together with Ca2+ and Mg-ATP. The phosphorylation of myosin was enhanced half-maximally by 10-4 g/ml of PSK. However, a similar concentration of PSK reduced the Mg-ATPase activity of the actomyosin. The former was brought about through stimulation of the MLCK activity and the latter through inhibition of the myosin ATPase activity.     

Phosphorylation in skeletal myosin light chain modulates the actin--myosin interaction in the presence of regulatory proteins in vitro

The effect of phosphorylation in skeletal myosin light chain (LC2) on the actomyosin and acto-heavymeromyosin (HMM) ATPase activities was investigated in the presence or absence of regulatory proteins (tropomyosin-troponin complex). Phosphorylation in LC2 did not modulate the actin-myosin and actin-HMM interactions over a wide range of KCl concentrations from 30 to 150 mM without regulatory proteins. In the presence of regulatory proteins, phosphorylation in myosin LC2 enhanced the ATPase activity of actomyosin with calcium ions, but the removal of calcium ions made little difference in the ATPase activity between phosphorylated and dephosphorylated myosins. Ca2+-sensitivity of the regulated actomyosin was slightly changed by phosphorylation in myosin LC2. However, both the ATPase activity and Ca2+-sensitivity of the regulated acto-HMM were unaffected by phosphorylation in HMM LC2.     

Inhibition of conformational change in smooth muscle myosin by a monoclonal antibody against the 17-kDa light chain

Monoclonal antibodies against gizzard smooth muscle myosin were generated and characterized. One of these antibodies, designated MM-2, recognized the 17-kDa light chain and modulated the ATPase activities and hydrodynamic properties of smooth muscle myosin. Rotary shadowing electron microscopy showed that MM-2 binds 51 (+/- 25) A from the head-rod junction. The depression of Ca2+- and Mg2+-ATPase activities of myosin and Ca2+-ATPase activity of heavy meromyosin at low KCl concentration were abolished by MM-2. Viscosity measurement indicated that MM-2 inhibits the transition of 6 S myosin to 10 S myosin. While the rate of the production of subfragment-1 by papain proteolysis of 6 S myosin was inhibited by MM-2, the rate of proteolysis of the heavy chain of 10 S myosin was enhanced by MM-2 and reached the same rate as that of 6 S myosin plus MM-2. These results suggest that MM-2 inhibits the formation of 10 S myosin by binding to the 17-kDa light chain which is localized at the head-neck region of the myosin molecule. MM-2 increased the Vmax of actin-activated Mg2+-ATPase activities of both dephosphorylated myosin and dephosphorylated heavy meromyosin about 10- and 20-fold, respectively. MM-2 also activated the actin-activated Mg2+-ATPase activity of phosphorylated myosin at a low MgCl2 concentration and thus abolished the Mg2+-dependence of acto phosphorylated myosin ATPase activity. These results suggest that MM-2 inhibits the formation of 10 S myosin, and this results in the activation of actin-activated Mg2+-ATPase activity even in the absence of phosphorylation.     

Phosphorylation of smooth muscle heavy meromyosin by calcium-activated, phospholipid-dependent protein kinase. The effect on actin-activated MgATPase activity

Smooth muscle heavy meromyosin (HMM) can serve as a substrate for the Ca2+-activated, phospholipid-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase C) as well as for the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase, myosin light chain kinase. When turkey gizzard HMM is incubated with protein kinase C, 1.7-2.2 mol of phosphate are incorporated per mol of HMM, all of it into the 20,000-Da light chain of HMM. Two-dimensional peptide mapping following tryptic hydrolysis revealed that protein kinase C phosphorylated a different site on the 20,000-Da HMM light chain than did myosin light chain kinase. Moreover, sequential phosphorylation of HMM by myosin light chain kinase and protein kinase C resulted in the incorporation of 4 mol of phosphate/mol of HMM, i.e. 2 mol of phosphate into each 20,000-Da light chain. When unphosphorylated HMM was phosphorylated by myosin light chain kinase, its actin-activated MgATPase activity increased from 4 nmol to 156 nmol of phosphate released/mg of HMM/min. Subsequent phosphorylation of this phosphorylated HMM by protein kinase C decreased the actin-activated MgATPase activity of HMM to 75 nmol of phosphate released/mg of HMM/min.     

Phosphorylation of the myosin heavy chain. Its effect on actin-activated Mg2+-stimulated ATPase in leukaemic myeloblasts.

Myosin purified from a murine myeloid leukaemia cell line (M1) that had been incubated with [32P]orthophosphate incorporated 32P into the heavy, but not the light, chain. When the heavy chain was dephosphorylated by bacterial alkaline phosphatase, myosin that had low actin-activated ATPase activity gained higher activity only in the presence of the light-chain kinase. In the absence of the light-chain kinase, however, the Mg2+-stimulated ATPase activity of myosin was not activated by actin, regardless of phosphatase treatment. These results indicate that the activity of M1 myosin ATPase is regulated by phosphorylation of both the light and heavy chains. A scheme for this regulation by phosphorylation is presented and discussed.