Amino acid sequence of chicken gizzard gamma-tropomyosin

Chicken gizzard muscle tropomyosin has been fractionated into its two major components, beta and gamma and the amino acid sequence of the gamma component established by the isolation and sequence analysis of fragments derived from cyanogen bromide cleavage and tryptic digestions. Despite its much slower mobility on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoretic gels, it has the same polypeptide chain length (284 residues) as the alpha and beta components of rabbit skeletal muscle. Evidence for microheterogeneity of the chicken gizzard component was detected both on electrophoretic gels and in the sequence analysis. The gamma component is more closely related to rabbit skeletal alpha-tropomyosin than to the beta component. While the protein is highly homologous to the rabbit skeletal tropomyosins, significant sequence differences are observed in two regions; between residues 42-83 and 258-284. In the latter region (COOH-terminal) the alterations in sequence are very similar to those seen in platelet tropomyosin when compared with the skeletal proteins.     

Structural studies on fructose-1,6-bisphosphatases from rabbit liver,kidney, and muscle

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatases (EC 3.1.3.11) isolated from rabbit liver and kidney appear to have identical primary structures, as deduced from their tryptic peptide maps and the peptide patterns obtained after cleavage with cyanogen bromide and chromatography on Sephadex G75. The enzyme isolated from rabbit skeletal muscle, on the other hand, yields distinctly different fingerprints and cyanogen bromide cleavage products. The results indicate that animal cells possess two genes that code for fructose-bisphosphatase. Native rabbit liver fructose bisphosphatase contains a single tryptophan located near the NH₂-terminus, and the NH₂ terminal-BrCN peptide containing this residue has been identified in the Sephadex G75 filtrates.     

The subunits and biological activity of polymorphic forms of tropomyosin

1. Free thiol groups were shown to be essential for tropomyosin to effect maximum inhibition of the Ca(2+)-stimulated ATPase (adenosine triphosphatase) of desensitized actomyosin but not for its activity in the regulatory-protein system. 2. The activity of tropomyosin on the Mg(2+)-stimulated ATPase in the regulatory-protein system was more susceptible to enzymic digestion and thermal denaturation than its effect on the Ca(2+)-stimulated ATPase of actomyosin. 3. Rabbit skeletal tropomyosin migrated as two distinct electrophoretic components in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate and urea and as four components on isoelectric focusing in urea. 4. The two main subunits present in rabbit skeletal tropomyosin, which have been named the alpha- and beta-chains, were separated by chromatography on CM-cellulose in urea at pH4.0. They were shown to be virtually identical in amino acid composition, except for their cysteine contents. The alpha(2) and beta(2) forms of tropomyosin possessed all the biological activities characteristic of normal tropomyosin preparations. 5. In skeletal muscle the alpha and beta components of tropomyosin were present in the proportion of 4:1. Somewhat lower ratios were obtained in skeletal muscle of sheep, pig and cow. 6. Tropomyosin isolated from cardiac muscle and Pecten maximus adductor muscle migrated as one band only. These tropomyosins possessed similar biological activities to those isolated from skeletal muscle.     

Tropomyosin from the striated muscles of carp (Cyprinus carpio) and of icefish (Channichthys rhinoceratus).

Tropomyosin of fast-twitch, slow-twitch and cardiac muscles of carp and icefish has been isolated by hydroxyapatite chromatography. The subunit distribution has been investigated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and by peptide mapping. The purified skeletal muscle tropomyosins all belong to the alpha family and differ from higher vertebrate tropomyosin by the lack of beta subunits. Specific alpha isotypes are however encountered in fast-twitch fibres (alpha w subunit) and slow-twitch or intermediate (pink) fibres (alpha and alpha w subunits). The amino acid compositions and the paracrystals formed by the carp alpha w alpha w and alpha alpha w tropomyosins do not differ markedly from that of rabbit alpha alpha chains. They differ however by their capability to inhibit the ATPase activity of rabbit skeletal muscle acto-HMM system. A beta-like subunit is found in carp cardiac tropomyosin, in the proportion of 25% of the native protein, but not in icefish heart.     

Two calcium regulation systems in squid (Ommastrephes sloani pacificus) muscle. Preparation of calcium-sensitive myosin and troponin-tropomyosin.

The Ca-regulatory system in squid mantle muscle was studied. The findings were as follows. (a) Squid mantle myosin B (squid myosin B) was Ca-sensitive, and its Ca-sensitivity was unaffected by addition of a large amount of rabbit skeletal myosin (skeletal myosin) or rabbit skeletal F-actin (skeletal F-actin). (b) Squid myosin was prepared from the mantle muscle. It showed a heavy chain component and two light chain components in the SDS-gel electrophoretic pattern: the molecular weights of the latter two were 17,000 and 15,000. Actomyosin reconstituted from squid myosin and skeletal (or squid) actin showed Ca-sensitivity in superprecipitation and Mg-ATPase assays. EDTA- treatment had no effect on the Ca-sensitivity of squid myosin. (c) Squid mantle actin (squid actin) was prepared by the method of Spudich and Watt. Hybrid actomyosin reconstituted by using the pure squid actin preparation with skeletal myosin showed no Ca-sensitivity in Mg-ATPase assay, whereas that reconstituted using crude squid actin showed marked Ca-sensitivity. The crude squid actin contained four protein components which were capable of associating with F-actin in 0.1 M KCl, 1 mM MgCl2 and 20 mM Tris-maleate (pH7.5). (d) Native tropomyosin was prepared from squid mantle muscle, and it conferred Ca-sensitivity on skeletal actomyosin as well as on a hybrid actomyosin reconstituted from squid actin and skeletal myosin. (e) Squid native tropomyosin was separated into troponin and tropomyosin fractions by placing it in 0.4 M LiCl at pH 4.7. The troponin fraction was further purified by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. Squid troponin thus obtained was different in mobility from rabbit skeletal or carp dorsal troponin; three bands of squid troponin corresponded to molecular weights of 52,000, 28,000, and 24,000 daltons. It could confer Ca-sensitivity in the presence of tropomyosin on skeletal actomyosin as well as on a hybrid reconstituted from squid actin and skeletal myosin. (f) Squid myosin B, and two hybrid actomyosins were compared as regards Ca and Sr requirements for their Mg-ATPase activities. The myosin-linked regulatory system rather than the thin-filament-linked regulatory system was predominant in squid myosin B. Squid myosin B required higher Ca2+ and Sr2+ concentrations for Mg-ATPase activity; half-maximal activation of Mg-ATPase was obtained at 0.8 micron Ca2+ and 28 micron Sr2+ with skeletal myosin B, and at 2.5 micron Ca2+ and 140 micron Sr2+ with squid myosin B.     

Peptide mapping of contractile proteins: Two-dimensional analysis of cyanogen bromide fragments on polyacrylamide gels

Peptide mapping of contractile proteins is necessary for correlation of the structual properties of these molecules with their distinct roles in various cell types. The large size of several of these polypeptides requires their cleavage by cyanogen bromide and the separation of the resulting products on a two-dimensional polyacrylamide-gel system to ensure reasonably complete peptide maps. Such a peptide map of rabbit skeletal muscle actin is in agreement with predictions from the amino acid sequence. The peptide map of rabbit skeletal muscle myosin can be resolved into maps of heavy and light meromyosins resulting from limited tryptic digestion of the myosin. Unique regions of the myosin map are occupied by one or the other of these segments. Analysis of native 105,000 M_r elam adductor paramyosin and its 94,000 M_r proteolytic products indicates that specific changes in peptide composition have occurred.     

Chemical and immunochemical characteristics of tropomyosins from striated and smooth muscle

1. On electrophoresis in dissociating conditions the tropomyosins isolated from skeletal muscles of mammalian, avian and amphibian species migrated as two components. These were comparable with the alpha and beta subunits of tropomyosin present in rabbit skeletal muscle. 2. The alpha and beta components of all skeletal-muscle tropomyosins contained 1 and 2 residues of cysteine per 34000g respectively. 3. The ratio of the amounts of alpha and beta subunit present in skeletal muscle tropomyosins was characteristic for the muscle type. Muscle consisting of slow red fibres contained a greater proportion of beta-tropomyosin than muscles consisting predominantly of white fast fibres. 4. Mammalian and avian cardiac muscle tropomyosins consisted of alpha-tropomyosin only. 5. Mammalian and avian smooth-muscle tropomyosins differed both chemically and immunologically from striated-muscle tropomyosins. 6. Antibody raised against rabbit skeletal alpha-tropomyosin was species non-specific, reacting with all other striated muscle alpha-tropomyosin subunits tested. 7. Antibody raised against rabbit skeletal beta-tropomyosin subunit was species-specific.     

2,4-Dinitrophenyl [14C]cysteinyl disulfide allows selective radioactive labeling of protein thiols under spectrophotometric control

2,4-Dinitrophenyl [1-14C]cysteinyl disulfide readily introduces by disulfide exchange [14C]cysteine as a label into proteins with exposed thiols. The release of an equivalent amount of colored 2,4-dinitrothiophenolate allows the labeling reaction to be followed spectrophotometrically. In reaction with two cysteine residues of rabbit skeletal muscle actin, the thiol selectivity of the reagent corresponded to that of 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (Ellman's reagent) and was superior to that of N-[14C]ethylmaleimide. Labeling of single SH groups of actin and papain proceeded faster than titration with Ellman's reagent under the same conditions. The [14C]cysteine label could be removed under mild conditions, e.g., with dithiothreitol, but proved to be stable during cyanogen bromide degradation of the protein and peptide purification. 2,4-Dinitrophenyl cysteinyl disulfide can be easily prepared within a few hours.     

Synthesis and biological activity of an icosapeptide analog of the actomyosin ATPase inhibitory region of troponin I.

A 20-residue peptide analog of the actomyosin ATPase inhibitory region of rabbit skeletal troponin I (Tn-I) has been synthesized by the solid phase method. The analog exhibited biological activity similar to both Tn-I and a 21-residue cyanogen bromide fragment of Tn-I. At ionic strengths where the inhibition of the actomyosin ATPase due to tropomyosin alone is low, the synthetic peptide in the presence of tropomyosin inhibits 90% of the original ATPase activity. In the absence of tropomyosin, the inhibition due to the peptide is much reduced. In contrast, salmine, a basic protein also known to inhibit the actomyosin ATPase, shows less inhibition in the presence of tropomyosin than it does in its absence. Gel electrophoresis data showed that the enhancement of the analog's inhibition by tropomyosin may be related to the analog's promotion of tropomyosin binding to F-actin similar to that reported for Tn-I and that the reduction of salmine inhibition by tropomyosin may be due to the binding of salmine by tropomyosin. At ionic strengths where binding and inhibition of tropomyosin is significant, the analog enhanced inhibition in a manner similar to that reported for whole Tn-I.     

Structural studies on rabbit skeletal muscle actin. Ordering of the peptides produced by cleavage with cyanogen bromide.

The 17 peptides produced by cleavage of actin with cyanogen bromide have been ordered with regard to their sequence in the actin molecule. Tryptic digestion of actin followed by isolation of the methionine-containing "overlap" peptides permitted the unique alignment of most, but not all of the cyanogen bromide peptides. However, maleylation of the actin molecule followed by tryptic digestion and isolation of methionine-containing peptides from maleylated actin permitted the proper placement of the remaining cyanogen bromide peptides. The ordering of cyanogen bromide peptides, together with the amino acid sequence of the individual peptides, constitutes the entire amino acid sequence of rabbit skeletal muscle actin (ELZINGA, M., COLLINS, J. H., KUEHL, W. M., and ADENLSTEIN, R. S. (1973) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 70,2687-2691).     

Amino acid sequence of rabbit skeletal muscle alpha-tropomyosin. The COOH-terminal half (residues 142 to 284)

Amino acid sequence analysis of the large cyanogen bromide fragment (residues 142 to 281) derived from the COOH-terminal half of the mixed tropomyosin population of rabbit skeletal muscle has been carried out. The isolation and sequence analysis of peptides derived from chymotryptic digests and from tryptic digests of the maleylated fragment permitted the alignment of the complete sequence except for the assignment of acids or amides at residues 142, 144, and 145. Selected peptides from a Myxobacter 495 alpha-lytic protease digest have confirmed certain overlaps. Based on previously published data the sequence can be extended to residue 284, the COOH-terminal end of the protein. In fourteen positions, amino acid substitutions have been observed. In one of these (residue 199) the sequence evidence indicates a minimum of four different polypeptide chains in the mixed tropomyosin population. The assignment of particular amino acid residues to these positions for the major alpha-component of rabbit skeletal tropomyosin has been based on the relative recoveries of peptides containing different residues in these positions.     

Calcium binding of arterial tropomyosin: involvement in the thin filament regulation of smooth muscle

Bovine aortic tropomyosin has been isolated by DEAE-Sepharose chromatography following isoelectric precipitation and ammonium sulfate fractionation. A single polypeptide [Mr 36 000 on a sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel] was obtained under different electrophoretic conditions. The amino acid composition of bovine tropomyosin was very similar to that of rabbit skeletal muscle; the amino-terminal residue is blocked. The molecular weight of the native tropomyosin (76 000), which is twice that calculated from the SDS-polyacrylamide gel, suggests that the molecule is a dimer. The diffusion coefficient of 3.4 X 10(-7) cm2 s-1 and the frictional coefficient of 1.7 indicate that the molecule is asymmetric. Comparative high-pressure liquid chromatography peptide mapping of rabbit skeletal and bovine aortic tropomyosins shows primary structure variation. Bovine aortic tropomyosin binds calcium under physiological conditions of pH and ionic strength (22 mol of Ca2+/mol of tropomyosin with a Kd of 1.4 mM). Such a property is not shared by skeletal tropomyosin. In low Mg2+ concentration, both skeletal and aortic actin activations of the skeletal myosin ATPase activity are calcium independent. Addition of aortic tropomyosin to a hybrid actomyosin (aortic actin, skeletal myosin) yields an enhancement of the actin activation of the myosin ATPase activity, but the addition of skeletal tropomyosin yields a decrease of this activity. However, both the enhancement and decrease are calcium dependent. Addition of skeletal or aortic tropomyosin to an actomyosin system, where both actin and myosin come from skeletal muscle, yields only an enhancement of the actin activation of the myosin ATPase activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Modulation of the actin-activated adenosinetriphosphatase activity of myosin by tropomyosin from vascular and gizzard smooth muscles

Tropomyosins from bovine aorta and pulmonary artery exhibit identical electrophoretic patterns in sodium dodecyl sulfate but differ from tropomyosins of either chicken gizzard or rabbit skeletal muscle. Each of the four tropomyosins binds readily to skeletal muscle F-actin as indicated by their sedimentation with actin and by their ability to maximally stimulate or inhibit actin-activated ATPase activity at a molar ratio of one tropomyosin per seven actin monomers. Smooth and skeletal muscle tropomyosins differ in their effects on activity of skeletal myosin or heavy meromyosin (HMM); the former can enhance activity under conditions in which the latter inhibits. Gizzard and arterial tropomyosins are usually equally effective in stimulating ATPase activity of skeletal acto-HMM, but at high concentrations of Mg2+ gizzard tropomyosin is more effective, a result that cannot be attributed to differences in the binding of the two tropomyosins to F-actin. The effects of tropomyosin also depend on the type of myosin; tropomyosin enhances activity of gizzard myosin under conditions in which it inhibits that of skeletal myosin. Increasing the pH or the Mg2+ concentration can reverse the effect of tropomyosin on actin-stimulated ATPase activity of skeletal HMM from activation to inhibition, but this reversal is not found with gizzard myosin. Activity in the absence of tropomyosin is independent of pH, and the loss of activation with increasing pH is not accompanied by loss of binding of tropomyosin to actin.     

Existence of common antigenic sites in tropomyosins.

1. Tropomyosins were extracted from vertebrate and invertebrate muscles, and their immunolo;ical characteristics were compared using antisera against tropomyosins from chicken skeletal and cardiac muscles. 2. Antigenic sites common to those of chicken skeletal muscle tropomyosin were found in all the tropomyosins tested, although the reactions of these common antigenic sites in an immunodiffusion test were weak in tropomyosins from phylogenetically distant animals. 3. An immunological difference was found between alpha-tropomyosins from chicken cardiac muscle and rabbit cardiac muscle. Thus they had specific antigenic sites in addition to the common ones. 4. A component was found in a 1 M KCL extract of Tetrahymena pyriformis which reacted with antiserum against chicken skeletal muscle tropomyosin.     

Studies on muscle differentiation. IV. Electrophoretic and immunochemical analyses of tropomyosin from adult and embryonic skeletal muscles

Tropomyosin preparations from skeletal muscles of the adult frog, chick and rabbit were resolved in 8 M urea-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis into at least 5 to 6 components. Of these, main components clearly reacted with anti-frog tropomyosin antiserum in agar diffusion test. Especially, main components of the frog tropomyosin preparation contained both genus- and organ-specific and genus- and organ-nonspecific antigens without being differentiated into separate entities. The chick tropomyosin preparation formed a single band when thioglycolic acid was included in 8 M urea-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This single component was revealed in an SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to be monomeric tropomyosin subunit with a molecular weight of 34,000. Both adult and embryonic chick tropomyosin preparations in their course of purification were observed in 8 M urea-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to decrease in amount of the monomeric component with a concomitant increase in number and in amount of polymerized components. It was concluded that the monomeric subunit was the major form of tropomyosin molecules in both adult and embryonic skeletal muscle extracts of the chick and that the polymerized components with inter-subunit disulfide bonds were formed in the course of purification of the preparations.     

Connectin content and its post-mortem changes in fish muscle

Connectin was isolated from fish dorsal myofibrils by an SDS-gel filtration method and estimated to account for approximately 13% of the total myofibrillar proteins. There was no significant difference in the amount of connectin among seven fish species but rabbit skeletal myofibrils contained a slightly higher content (16%) of connectin. The high molecular weight connectins from carp and rabbit both showed a doublet band, consisting of bands 1 and 2, on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis using a large-pore gel. However, rabbit band 1 (a component of the connectin doublet) was found to migrate more slowly than carp band 1. During post-mortem ageing of the muscles, it was observed that the band 1 component rapidly disappeared with a concomitant increase in band 2 component and then the band 2 component was transformed slowly into faster migrating components. These results suggest that post-mortem ageing has qualitatively similar effects on the submolecular compositions of carp and rabbit connectins. However, the apparent rate of disappearance of the band 1 component was considerably higher in carp muscle than that in rabbit muscle.     

Cytochrome c from Schizosaccharomyces pombe. 2. Amino-acid sequence.

The amino acid sequence of Schizosaccharomyces pombe cytochrome c has been established by automatic degradation of the protein and by manual degradation of fragments obtained by cyanogen bromide cleavage and chymotryptic digestion. The chymotryptic peptides were aligned by homology with other known cytochrome c sequences. The protein is 108 residues long, with a four-residue amino-terminal tail. It has only one methionine residue and differs from other fungal cytochromes c in lacking the one-residue deletion at the C-terminal end. After a cyanogen bromide step, an unexpected cleavage of the peptide chain before a cysteine residue was observed. This is ascribed to formation of a dehydroalanyl residue during an incomplete S-carboxymethylation of the apoprotein, and subsequent cleavage under acidic conditions. Experimental evidence is presented in favour of the proposed mechanisms.     

Inhibitors of protein phosphatase-1. Inhibitor-1 of bovine adipose tissue and a dopamine- and cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein of bovine brain are identical

Protein phosphatase inhibitor-1 was purified from bovine adipose tissue. The protein had an apparent molecular mass of 32 kDa by SDS/PAGE and a Stokes' radius of 3.4 nm. It was phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase on a threonyl residue; this phosphorylation was necessary for inhibition of protein phosphatase-1. Bovine adipose tissue inhibitor-1 was compared directly with rabbit skeletal muscle inhibitor-1 and with a 32000-Mr, dopamine- and cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein from bovine brain (DARPP-32), also an inhibitor of protein phosphatase-1. By the following biochemical and immunochemical criteria, bovine adipose tissue inhibitor-1 was found to be very similar and possibly identical to DARPP-32 and was clearly distinct from skeletal muscle inhibitor-1: molecular mass by SDS/PAGE; Stokes' radii; phosphorylation on threonine residues; Staphylococcus-aureus-V8-protease-generated peptide patterns analyzed by SDS/PAGE; tryptic phosphopeptide maps analysed by two-dimensional thin-layer electrophoresis/chromatography; elution on reverse-phase HPLC; chymotryptic peptide maps as analysed by reverse-phase HPLC; amino acid composition; antibody recognition by immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting; effect of cyanogen bromide cleavage on protein phosphatase inhibitor activity. Based on these results we conclude that bovine brain and adipose tissue contain an identical phosphoprotein inhibitor of protein phosphatase-1 (DARPP-32), which is distinct from that of skeletal muscle (inhibitor-1).     

Localization of a histidine residue in the binding site for the initiating substrate of E. coli RNA-polymerase

E. coli RNA polymerase was selectively labelled in the presence of promoters at a histidine residue of the beta-subunit by treatment with GDP beta-imidazolide and then with [alpha-32P]UTP (or [alpha-33P]UTP). Partial cyanogen bromide cleavage of the labelled polypeptide afforded a series of "single-hit" labelled peptides, the electrophoretic pattern of which suggested that the labelling site was His1237. This conclusion was confirmed by a similar pattern obtained with products of the cyanogen bromide cleavage of a radioactive peptide obtained by the limited trypsinolysis (C-terminal peptide consisting of 423 amino acid residues). Interpretation of our earlier results in favour of His1116 as the labelling point (Dokl. Acad. nauk SSSR, 1985, v. 281, p. 723) was incorrect due to the electrophoretic "compression" of three labelled peptide bands.     

Isolation and some structural and functional properties of macrophage tropomyosin

Tropomyosin purified from rabbit lung macrophages is very similar in structure to other nonmuscle cell tropomyosins. Reduced and denatured, the protein has two polypeptides which migrate during electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate on polyacrylamide gels with slightly different mobilities corresponding to apparent Mr's of about 30 000. Following cross-linking by air oxidation in the presence of CuCl2, electrophoresis under nonreducing conditions reveals a single polypeptide of Mr 60 000. Macrophage tropomyosin has an isoelectric point of 4.6 and an amino acid composition similar to other tropomyosins. It contains one cysteine residue per chain. In the electron microscope, macrophage tropomyosin molecules rotary shadowed with platinum and carbon are slender, straight rods, 33 nm in length. Macrophage tropomyosin paracrystals grown in high magnesium concentrations have an axial periodicity of 34 nm. On the basis of yields from purification and from two-dimensional electrophoretic analyses of macrophage extracts, tropomyosin comprises less than 0.2% of the total macrophage protein, a molar ratio of approximately 1 tropomyosin molecule to 75 actin monomers in the cell. Macrophage tropomyosin binds to actin filaments. Macrophage, skeletal muscle, and other nonmuscle cell tropomyosins inhibit the fragmentation of actin filaments by the Ca2+-gelsolin complex. The finding implies that tropomyosin may have a role in stabilizing actin filaments in vivo.