UNC-87 isoforms,Caenorhabditis elegans calponin-related proteins,interact with both actin and myosin and regulate actomyosin contractility

Calponin-related proteins are widely distributed among eukaryotes and involved in signaling and cytoskeletal regulation. Calponin-like (CLIK) repeat is an actin-binding motif found in the C-termini of vertebrate calponins. Although CLIK repeats stabilize actin filaments, other functions of these actin-binding motifs are unknown. The Caenorhabditis elegans unc-87 gene encodes actin-binding proteins with seven CLIK repeats. UNC-87 stabilizes actin filaments and is essential for maintenance of sarcomeric actin filaments in striated muscle. Here we show that two UNC-87 isoforms, UNC-87A and UNC-87B, are expressed in muscle and nonmuscle cells in a tissue-specific manner by two independent promoters and exhibit quantitatively different effects on both actin and myosin. Both UNC-87A and UNC-87B have seven CLIK repeats, but UNC-87A has an extra N-terminal extension of ∼190 amino acids. Both UNC-87 isoforms bind to actin filaments and myosin to induce ATP-resistant actomyosin bundles and inhibit actomyosin motility. UNC-87A with an N-terminal extension binds to actin and myosin more strongly than UNC-87B. UNC-87B is associated with actin filaments in nonstriated muscle in the somatic gonad, and an unc-87 mutation causes its excessive contraction, which is dependent on myosin. These results strongly suggest that proteins with CLIK repeats function as a negative regulator of actomyosin contractility.     

Caldesmon regulates the three-dimensional contraction (myosin-dependent contraction of the actin binding protein-induced actin gel)

We managed to develop a three-dimensional contractile model system using gizzard smooth muscle contractile elements. Phosphorylation of myosin was prerequisite for contraction. A high Mr actin-binding protein (ABP, or filamin), which cross-links actin filaments into a three-dimensional meshwork, was an essential factor for the three-dimensional contraction. Caldesmon suppressed contraction through the inhibition of the actin-ABP and actin-myosin interactions. Further, it was found that calmodulin could overcome the inhibitory effects of caldesmon on the above interactions, resulting in contraction. The possibility of this contractile model system being applied to nonmuscle contractile event is also discussed.     

Fine structure and contraction of isolated muscle actomyosin

Summary A modified thread model of isolated cross-striated muscle actomyosin was produced, which a priori consisted of both actin and myosin filaments forming a random network. This modified model contracts to the same extent as the normal model which lacks myosin filaments prior to contraction.The striking difference in the contraction behavior of the two models indicates 1) that in the normal model myosin filament formation occurs during contraction and 2) that the pre-existence of myosin filaments in the modified model increases the speed of contraction. Hence, the sliding mechanism involving myosin filaments is able to operate at a higher speed than the sliding mechanism which utilizes oligomeric myosin.     

Caldesmon phosphorylation in actin cytoskeletal remodeling

Caldesmon is an actin-binding protein that is capable of stabilizing actin filaments against actin-severing proteins, inhibiting actomyosin ATPase activity, and inhibiting Arp2/3-mediated actin polymerization in vitro. Caldesmon is a substrate of cdc2 kinase and Erk1/2 MAPK, and phosphorylation by either of these kinases reverses the inhibitory effects of caldesmon. Cdc2-mediated caldesmon phosphorylation and the resulting dissociation of caldesmon from actin filaments are essential for M-phase progression during mitosis. Cells overexpressing the actin-binding carboxyterminal fragment of caldesmon fail to release the fragment completely from actin filaments during mitosis, resulting in a higher frequency of multinucleated cells. PKC-mediated MEK/Erk/caldesmon phosphorylation is an important signaling cascade in the regulation of smooth muscle contraction. Furthermore, PKC activation has been shown to remodel actin stress fibers into F-actin-enriched podosome columns in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells. Podosomes are cytoskeletal adhesion structures associated with the release of metalloproteases and degradation of extracellular matrix during cell invasion. Interestingly, caldesmon is one of the few actin-binding proteins that is associated with podosomes but excluded from focal adhesions. Caldesmon also inhibits the function of gelsolin and Arp2/3 complex that are essential for the formation of podosomes. Thus, caldesmon appears to be well positioned for playing a modulatory role in the formation of podosomes. Defining the roles of actin filament-stabilizing proteins such as caldesmon and tropomyosin in the formation of podosomes should provide a more complete understanding of molecular systems that regulate the remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton in cell transformation and invasion.     

Actin depolymerization drives actomyosin ring contraction during budding yeast cytokinesis

Actin filaments and myosin II are evolutionarily conserved force-generating components of the contractile ring during cytokinesis. Here we show that in budding yeast, actin filament depolymerization plays a major role in actomyosin ring constriction. Cofilin mutation or chemically stabilizing actin filaments attenuate actomyosin ring constriction. Deletion of myosin II motor domain or the myosin regulatory light chain reduced the contraction rate and also the rate of actin depolymerization in the ring. We constructed a quantitative microscopic model of actomyosin ring constriction via filament sliding driven by both actin depolymerization and myosin II motor activity. Model simulations based on experimental measurements support the notion that actin depolymerization is the predominant mechanism for ring constriction. The model predicts invariability of total contraction time regardless of the initial ring size, as originally reported for C. elegans embryonic cells. This prediction was validated in yeast cells of different sizes due to different ploidies.     

A generalized Flory-Stockmayer kinetic theory of connectivity percolation and rigidity percolation of cytoskeletal networks

Actin networks are essential for living cells to move, reproduce, and sense their environments. The dynamic and rheological behavior of actin networks is modulated by actin-binding proteins such as α-actinin, Arp2/3, and myosin. There is experimental evidence that actin-binding proteins modulate the cooperation of myosin motors by connecting the actin network. In this work, we present an analytical mean field model, using the Flory-Stockmayer theory of gelation, to understand how different actin-binding proteins change the connectivity of the actin filaments as the networks are formed. We follow the kinetics of the networks and estimate the concentrations of actin-binding proteins that are needed to reach connectivity percolation as well as to reach rigidity percolation. We find that Arp2/3 increases the actomyosin connectivity in the network in a non-monotonic way. We also describe how changing the connectivity of actomyosin networks modulates the ability of motors to exert forces, leading to three possible phases of the networks with distinctive dynamical characteristics: a sol phase, a gel phase, and an active phase. Thus, changes in the concentration and activity of actin-binding proteins in cells lead to a phase transition of the actin network, allowing the cells to perform active contraction and change their rheological properties.     

Localization of filamin in smooth muscle

The distribution of contractile and cytoskeletal proteins in smooth muscle has been mapped by immunocytochemical methods, with special reference to the localization of the actin-binding protein, filamin. Immunolabeling of ultrathin sections of polyvinylalcohol-embedded smooth muscle distinguished two domains in the smooth muscle cell: (a) actomyosin domains, made up of continuous longitudinal arrays of actin and myosin filaments, and (b) longitudinal, fibrillar, intermediate filament domains, free of myosin but containing actin and alpha-actinin-rich dense bodies. Filamin was found to be localized specifically in the latter intermediate filament-actin domains, but was excluded from the core of the dense bodies. Filamin was also localized close to the cell border at the inner surface of the plasmalemma-associated plaques. In isolated cells the surface filamin label showed a rib-like distribution similar to that displayed by vinculin. It is speculated that the two domains distinguished in these studies may reflect the existence of two functionally distinct systems: an actomyosin system required for contraction and an intermediate filament-actin system, with associated gelation proteins, that is responsible, at least in part, for the slow relaxation and tone peculiar to smooth muscle.     

Spontaneous oscillatory contraction without regulatory proteins in actin filament-reconstituted fibers.

Skinned skeletal and cardiac muscle fibers exhibits spontaneous oscillatory contraction (SPOC) in the presence of MgATP, MgADP, and inorganic phosphate (Pi)1 but the molecular mechanism underlying this phenomenon is not yet clear. We have investigated the role of regulatory proteins in SPOC using cardiac muscle fibers of which the actin filaments had been reconstituted without tropomyosin and troponin, according to a previously reported method (Fujita et al., 1996. Biophys. J. 71:2307-2318). That is, thin filaments in glycerinated cardiac muscle fibers were selectively removed by treatment with gelsolin. Then, by adding exogenous actin to these thin filament-free cardiac muscle fibers under polymerizing conditions, actin filaments were reconstituted. The actin filament-reconstituted cardiac muscle fibers generated active tension in a Ca(2+)-insensitive manner because of the lack of regulatory proteins. Herein we have developed a new solvent condition under which SPOC occurs, even in actin filament-reconstituted fibers: the coexistence of 2,3-butanedione 2-monoxime (BDM), a reversible inhibitor of actomyosin interactions, with MgATP, MgADP and Pi. The role of BDM in the mechanism of SPOC in the actin filament-reconstituted fibers was analogous to that of the inhibitory function of the tropomyosin-troponin complex (-Ca2+) in the control fibers. The present results suggest that SPOC is a phenomenon that is intrinsic to the actomyosin motor itself.     

X-ray diffraction evidence for the extensibility of actin and myosin filaments during muscle contraction.

To clarify the extensibility of thin actin and thick myosin filaments in muscle, we examined the spacings of actin and myosin filament-based reflections in x-ray diffraction patterns at high resolution during isometric contraction of frog skeletal muscles and steady lengthening of the active muscles using synchrotron radiation as an intense x-ray source and a storage phosphor plate as a high sensitivity, high resolution area detector. Spacing of the actin meridional reflection at approximately 1/2.7 nm-1, which corresponds to the axial rise per actin subunit in the thin filament, increased about 0.25% during isometric contraction of muscles at full overlap length of thick and thin filaments. The changes in muscles stretched to approximately half overlap of the filaments, when they were scaled linearly up to the full isometric tension, gave an increase of approximately 0.3%. Conversely, the spacing decreased by approximately 0.1% upon activation of muscles at nonoverlap length. Slow stretching of a contracting muscle increased tension and increased this spacing over the isometric contraction value. Scaled up to a 100% tension increase, this corresponds to a approximately 0.26% additional change, consistent with that of the initial isometric contraction. Taken together, the extensibility of the actin filament amounts to 3-4 nm of elongation when a muscle switches from relaxation to maximum isometric contraction. Axial spacings of the layer-line reflections at approximately 1/5.1 nm-1 and approximately 1/5.9 nm-1 corresponding to the pitches of the right- and left-handed genetic helices of the actin filament, showed similar changes to that of the meridional reflection during isometric contraction of muscles at full overlap. The spacing changes of these reflections, which also depend on the mechanical load on the muscle, indicate that elongation is accompanied by slight changes of the actin helical structure possibly because of the axial force exerted by the actomyosin cross-bridges. Additional small spacing changes of the myosin meridional reflections during length changes applied to contracting muscles represented an increase of approximately 0.26% (scaled up to a 100% tension increase) in the myosin periodicity, suggesting that such spacing changes correspond to a tension-related extension of the myosin filaments. Elongation of the myosin filament backbone amounts to approximately 2.1 nm per half sarcomere. The results indicate that a large part (approximately 70%) of the sarcomere compliance of an active muscle is caused by the extensibility of the actin and myosin filaments; 42% of the compliance resides in the actin filaments, and 27% of it is in the myosin filaments.     

A novel 36,000-dalton actin-binding protein purified from microfilaments in Physarum plasmodia which aggregates actin filaments and blocks actin-myosin interaction

In the plasmodia of Physarum polycephalum, which show a cyclic contraction-relaxation rhythm of the gel layer, huge aggregates of entangled actin microfilaments are formed at about the onset of the relaxation (R. Nagai, Y. Yoshimoto, and N. Kamiya. 1978. J. Cell Sci. 33:205-225). By treating the plasmodia with Triton X-100, we prepared a demembranated cytoskeleton consisting of entangled actin filaments and found that the actin filaments hardly interact with rabbit skeletal myosin. From the cytoskeleton we purified a novel actin-binding protein which binds stoichiometrically to actin and makes actin filaments curled and aggregated. It also inhibits the ATPase activity as well as the superprecipitation of reconstituted rabbit skeletal muscle actomyosin. This protein has a polypeptide molecular weight of 36,000 and binds 7 mol of actin/mol 36,000 polypeptide.     

Effects of actin filament cross-linking and filament length on actin- myosin interaction

We have used two actin-binding proteins of the intestinal brush border, TW 260/240 and villin, to examine the effects of filament cross-linking and filament length on myosin-actin interactions. TW 260/240 is a nonerythroid spectrin that is a potent cross-linker of actin filaments. In the presence of this cross-linker we observed a concentration- dependent enhancement of skeletal muscle actomyosin ATPase activity (150-560% of control; maximum enhancement at a 1:70-80 TW 260/240:actin molar ratio). TW 260/240 did not cause a similar enhancement of either acto-heavy meromyosin (HMM) ATPase or acto-myosin subfragment-one (S1) ATPase. Villin, a Ca2+-dependent filament capping and severing protein of the intestinal microvillus, was used to generate populations of actin filaments of various lengths from less than 20 nm to 2.0 microns; (villin:actin ratios of 1:2 to 1:4,000). The effect of filament length on actomyosin ATPase was biphasic. At villin:actin molar ratios of 1:2- 25 actin-activated myosin ATPase activity was inhibited to 20-80% of control values, with maximum inhibition observed at the highest villin:actin ratio. The ATPase activities of acto-HMM and acto-S1 were also inhibited at these short filament lengths. At intermediate filament lengths generated at villin:actin ratios of 1:40-400 (average lengths 0.26-1.1 micron) an enhancement of actomyosin ATPase was observed (130-260% of controls), with a maximum enhancement at average filament lengths of 0.5 micron. The levels of actomyosin ATPase fell off to control values at low concentrations of villin where filament length distributions were almost those of controls. Unlike intact myosin, the actin-activated ATPase of neither HMM nor S1 showed an enhancement at these intermediate actin filament lengths.     

Regulation of muscular contraction. Distribution of actin control and myosin control in the animal kingdom

The control systems regulating muscle contraction in approximately 100 organisms have been categorized. Both myosin control and actin control operate simultaneously in the majority of invertebrates tested. These include insects, chelicerates, most crustaceans, annelids, priapulids, nematodes, and some sipunculids. Single myosin control is present in the muscles of molluscs, brachiopods, echinoderms, echiuroids, and nemertine worms. Single actin control was found in the fast muscles of decapods, in mysidacea, in a single sipunculid species, and in vertebrate striated muscles. Classification is based on functional tests that include measurements of the calcium dependence of the actomyosin ATPase activity in the presence and the absence of purified rabbit actin and myosin. In addition, isolated thin filaments and myosins were also analyzed. Molluscs lack actin control since troponin is not present in sufficient quantities. Even though the functional tests indicate the complete lack of myosin control in vertebrate striated muscle, it is difficult to exclude unambiguously the in vivo existence of this regulation. Both control systems have been found in animals from phyla which evolved early. We cannot ascribe any simple correlation between ATPase activity, muscle structure, and regulatory mechanisms.     

The motor of leukocytes

The movements of leukocytes involve extension, flow, and contraction of a margin of organelle-excluding cytoplasm. Actin is the principal structural component of this region. This paper reviews evidence that the expansion of cortical cytoplasm can result from the growth of actin polymers into an orthogonal network in which actin fibers branch perpendicularly under the influence of actin-binding protein. Flow occurs when actin filaments are disassembled and severed. The assembly and fragmentation of actin are regulated by actin-modulating proteins such as profilin, which sequesters actin monomers, acumentin, which binds to the slow-growing end of actin fibers, and gelsolin, a calcium-regulated protein that binds to the fast-growing end of actin polymers and severs actin filaments. Contraction of the actin network is caused by myosin, the assembly and activity of which are regulated by its state of phosphorylation, which is in turn controlled by phosphorylating and dephosphorylating enzymes and by calmodulin and calcium. Present information leads to the prediction that intracellular calcium gradients guide cytoplasmic movement and that the direction of actin assembly and therefore of cytoplasmic extension is toward regions of low cytoplasmic free calcium.     

Three-dimensional reconstruction of caldesmon-containing smooth muscle thin filaments

Caldesmon is known to inhibit actomyosin ATPase and filament sliding in vitro, and may play a role in modulating smooth muscle contraction as well as in diverse cellular processes including cytokinesis and exocytosis. However, the structural basis of caldesmon action has not previously been apparent. We have recorded electron microscope images of negatively stained thin filaments containing caldesmon and tropomyosin which were isolated from chicken gizzard smooth muscle in EGTA. Three-dimensional helical reconstructions of these filaments show actin monomers whose bilobed shape and connectivity are very similar to those previously seen in reconstructions of frozen-hydrated skeletal muscle thin filaments. In addition, a continuous thin strand of density follows the long-pitch actin helices, in contact with the inner domain of each actin monomer. Gizzard thin filaments treated with Ca2+/calmodulin, which dissociated caldesmon but not tropomyosin, have also been reconstructed. Under these conditions, reconstructions also reveal a bilobed actin monomer, as well as a continuous surface strand that appears to have moved to a position closer to the outer domain of actin. The strands seen in both EGTA- and Ca2+/calmodulin-treated filaments thus presumably represent tropomyosin. It appears that caldesmon can fix tropomyosin in a particular position on actin in the absence of calcium. An influence of caldesmon on tropomyosin position might, in principle, account for caldesmon's ability to modulate actomyosin interaction in both smooth muscles and non-muscle cells.     

Protein friction and filament bending facilitate contraction of disordered actomyosin networks

We use mathematical modeling and computation to investigate how protein friction facilitates contraction of disordered actomyosin networks. We simulate two-dimensional networks using an agent-based model, consisting of a system of force-balance equations for myosin motor proteins and semiflexible actin filaments. A major advantage of our approach is that it enables direct calculation of the network stress tensor, which provides a quantitative measure of contractility. Exploiting this, we use repeated simulations of disordered networks to confirm that both protein friction and actin filament bending are required for contraction. We then use simulations of elementary two-filament systems to show that filament bending flexibility can facilitate contraction on the microscopic scale. Finally, we show that actin filament turnover is necessary to sustain contraction and prevent filament aggregation. Simulations with and without turnover also exhibit contractile pulses. However, these pulses are aperiodic, suggesting that periodic pulsation can only arise because of additional regulatory mechanisms or more complex mechanical behavior.     

Reconstitution of contractile actomyosin bundles

Contractile actomyosin bundles are critical for numerous aspects of muscle and nonmuscle cell physiology. Due to the varying composition and structure of actomyosin bundles in vivo, the minimal requirements for their contraction remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that actin filaments and filaments of smooth muscle myosin motors can self-assemble into bundles with contractile elements that efficiently transmit actomyosin forces to cellular length scales. The contractile and force-generating potential of these minimal actomyosin bundles is sharply sensitive to the myosin density. Above a critical myosin density, these bundles are contractile and generate large tensile forces. Below this threshold, insufficient cross-linking of F-actin by myosin thick filaments prevents efficient force transmission and can result in rapid bundle disintegration. For contractile bundles, the rate of contraction decreases as forces build and stalls under loads of ∼0.5 nN. The dependence of contraction speed and stall force on bundle length is consistent with bundle contraction occurring by several contractile elements connected in series. Thus, contraction in reconstituted actomyosin bundles captures essential biophysical characteristics of myofibrils while lacking numerous molecular constituents and structural signatures of sarcomeres. These results provide insight into nonsarcomeric mechanisms of actomyosin contraction found in smooth muscle and nonmuscle cells.     

Further characterization of a brain high molecular weight actin-binding protein (BABP): interaction with brain actin and ultrastructural studies

Crude actomyosin fraction from porcine brain contained a large amount of high molecular weight actin-binding protein (BABP). The molar ratio of BABP to actin (BABP/actin) in the fraction was estimated to be 0.22. From this fraction, BABP and actin were solubilized with a molar ratio of 0.25, suggesting the existence of an interaction between BABP and brain actin. BABP was finally purified to 90% purity. The purified BABP was negatively stained and observed by electron microscopy; it appeared to be a slender, flexible, two-stranded molecule whose contour length was about 200 nm. The structure was very similar to those of fodrin and other high molecular weight actin-binding proteins such as filamin, spectrin, and ABP. Lattice cage-like structures composed of BABP molecules were occasionally observed at high BABP concentrations. The addition of BABP to actin filaments resulted in the appearance of many branching, filamentous bundles. The electron microscopic observations suggested that a single BABP molecule could crosslink actin filaments, that is, one BABP molecule has two actin binding sites.     

Cross-bridge model of muscle contraction. Quantitative analysis

We recently presented, in a qualitative manner, a cross-bridge model of muscle contraction which was based on a biochemical kinetic cycle for the actomyosin ATPase activity. This cross-bridge model consisted of two cross-bridge states detached from actin and two cross-bridge states attached to actin. In the present paper, we attempt to fit this model quantitatively to both biochemical and physiological data. We find that the resulting complete cross-bridge model is able to account reasonably well for both the isometric transient data observed when a muscle is subjected to a sudden change in length and for the relationship between the velocity of muscle contraction in vivo and the actomyosin ATPase activity in vitro. This model also illustrates the interrelationship between biochemical and physiological data necessary for the development of a complete cross-bridge model of muscle contraction.     

Interactions between actin, myosin, and an actin-binding protein from rabbit alveolar macrophages. Alveolar macrophage myosin Mg-2+-adenosine triphosphatase requires a cofactor for activation by actin.

The interactions were analyzed between actin, myosin, and a recently discovered high molecular weight actin-binding protein (Hartwig, J. H., and Stossel, T. P. (1975) J. Biol Chem.250,5696-5705) of rabbit alveolar macrophages. Purified rabbit alveolar macrophage or rabbit skeletal muscle F-actins did not activate the Mg2+ATPase activity of purified rabbit alveolar macrophage myosin unless an additional cofactor, partially purified from macrophage extracts, was added. The Mg2+ATPase activity of cofactor-activated macrophage actomyosin was as high as 0.6 mumol of Pi/mg of myosin protein/min at 37 degrees. The macrophage cofactor increased the Mg2+ATPase activity of rabbit skeletal muscle actomyosin, and calcium regulated the Mg2+ATPase activity of cofactor-activited muscle actomyosin in the presence of muscle troponins and tropomyosin. However, the Mg2+ATPase activity of macrophage actomyosin in the presence of the cofactor was inhibited by muscle control proteins, both in the presence and absence of calcium. The Mg2+ATPase activity of the macrophage actomyosin plus cofactor, whether assembled from purified components or studied in a complex collected from crude macrophage extracts, was not influenced by the presence of absence of calcium ions. Therefore, as described for Acanthamoeba castellanii myosin (Pollard, T. D., and Korn, E. D. (1973) J. Biol. Chem. 248, 4691-4697), rabbit alveolar macrophage myosin requires a cofactor for activation of its Mg2+ATPase activity by F-actin; and no evidence was found for participation of calcium ions in the regulation of this activity.In macrophage extracts containing 0.34 M sucrose, 0.5 mM ATP, and 0.05 M KCl at pH 7.0,the actin-binding protein bound F-actin into bundles with interconnecting bridges. Purified macrophage actin-binding protein in 0.1 M KCl at pH 7.0 also bound purified macrophage F-actin into filament bundles. Macrophage myosin bound to F-actin in the absence but not the presence of Mg2+ATP, but the actin-binding protein did not bind to macrophage myosin in either the presence or absence of Mg2+ATP.     

Modulation of contraction by gelation/solation in a reconstituted motile model

The actin-based cytoskeleton is a dynamic component of living cells with major structural and contractile properties involved in fundamental cellular processes. The action of actin-binding proteins can decrease or increase the gel structure. Changes in the actin-based cytoskeleton have long been thought to modulate the myosin II-based contractions involved in these cellular processes, but there has been some debate concerning whether maximal gelation increases or decreases contractile activity. To address this question, we have examined how contractile activity is modulated by the extent of actin gelation. The model system consists of physiologically relevant concentrations and molar ratios of actin filaments (whose lengths are controlled by gelsolin), the actin-cross-linking protein filamin, and smooth muscle myosin II. This system has been studied at the macroscopic and light microscopic levels to relate the gel structure to the rate of contraction. We present results which show that while a minimal amount of structure is necessary to transmit the contractile force, increasing the gel structure inhibits the rate of contraction, despite an increase in the actin-activated Mg(2+)-ATPase activity of myosin. Decreasing the total myosin concentration also inhibits the rate of contraction. Application of cytochalasin D to one side of the contractile network increases the rate of contraction and also induces movement comparable to flare streaming observed in isolated amoeba cytoplasm. These results are interpreted relative to current models of the relationship between the state of gelation and contraction and to the potential effects of such a relationship in the living cell.