Amino Acid sequence of a novel calmodulin from the unicellular alga chlamydomonas

An amino acid sequence for a Chlamydomonas calmodulin has been elucidated with emphasis on the characterization of differences that are unique to Chlamydomonas and Dictyostelium calmodulin. While the concentration of calmodulin required for half-maximal activation of plant NAD kinase varies among vertebrate, higher plant, algal, and slime mold calmodulins, only calmodulins from the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas and the slime mold Dictyostelium show increased maximal activation of NAD kinase (Roberts, Burgess, Watterson 1984 Plant Physiol 75: 796-798; Marshak, Clarke, Roberts, Watterson 1984 Biochemistry 23: 2891-2899). The same preparations of calmodulin do not show major differences in phosphodiesterase or myosin light chain kinase activator activity.

We report here that a Chlamydomonas calmodulin has four primary structural features similar to Dictyostelium that are not found in other calmodulins characterized to date: an altered carboxy terminus including a novel 11-residue extension for Chlamydomonas calmodulin, unique residues at positions 81 and 118, and an unmethylated lysine at position 115. The only amino acid sequence identity unique to Chlamydomonas and Dictyostelium calmodulin is the presence of a lysine at position 115 instead of a trimethyllysine. These studies indicate that the methylation state of lysine 115 may be important in the maximal NAD kinase activator activity of calmodulin and support the concept that calmodulin has multiple functional domains in addition to multiple structural domains.

     

Further Characterization of Calmodulin from the Monocotyledon Barley (Hordeum vulgare)

We report here that calmodulin isolated from the monocotyledon barley is indistinguishable by a variety of criteria from calmodulin isolated from the dicotyledon spinach. In contrast to previous reports, we find that barley (Hordeum vulgare) calmodulin has an amino acid composition similar to that of vertebrate and spinach calmodulins, including the presence of a single trimethyllysinyl residue, and that barley calmodulin quantitatively activates cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase. Furthermore, spinach and barley calmodulins are similar in terms of tryptic peptide maps and immunoreactivity with various antisera that differ in their molecular specificities for calmodulins. Limited amino acid sequence analysis demonstrates that the region around the single histidinyl and trimethyllysinyl residues is identical among barley, spinach, and vertebrate calmodulins and that barley calmodulin, like spinach calmodulin, has a novel glutamine residue at position 96. We conclude that calmodulin is highly conserved among higher plants and that detailed sequence analysis is required before significant differences, if any, can be assigned to barley or other higher plant calmodulins. These studies suggest that calmodulin's fundamental importance to the eukaryotic cell may have been established prior to the evolutionary emergence of higher plants.     

Structural characterization of a higher plant calmodulin : spinacia oleracea

Calmodulin is a eukaryotic calcium binding protein which has several calcium-dependent in vitro activities. Presented in this report is a structural characterization of calmodulin from spinach leaves (Spinacia oleracea). Spinach calmodulin may be representative of higher plant calmodulins in general since calmodulin from the monocotyledon barley (Hordeum vulgare) is indistinguishable by a variety of physical, chemical, and functional criteria (Schleicher, Lukas, Watterson 1983 Plant Physiol 73: 666-670). Spinach calmodulin is homologous to bovine brain calmodulin with only 13 identified amino acid sequence differences, excluding a blocked NH₂-terminal tripeptide whose sequence has not been elucidated. Two extended regions of sequence identity are in the NH₂-terminal half of the molecule, while nine of the 13 identified differences are in the COOH-terminal half of the molecule. Two of the changes, a cysteine at residue 26 and a glutamine at residue 96, require a minimum of two base changes in the nucleotide codons. Both of these changes occur in the proposed calcium binding loops of the molecule. Five additional amino acid differences found in spinach calmodulin had not been observed previously in a calmodulin. As described in an accompanying report (Roberts, Burgess, Watterson 1984 Plant Physiol 75: 796-798), these limited number of amino acid sequence variations appear to result in differential effects on the activation of calmodulin-dependent enzymes by plant and vertebrate calmodulins.     

Trimethyllysine and protein function. Effect of methylation and mutagenesis of lysine 115 of calmodulin on NAD kinase activation

Unmethylated calmodulins have been enzymatically methylated at lysine 115, and a direct effect of this methylation on NAD kinase activation has been shown. Similar to naturally occurring calmodulins with trimethyllysine 115, the enzymatically methylated calmodulins activated an NAD kinase preparation to a maximal level that was at least 3-fold lower than the level of activation obtained with the corresponding unmethylated calmodulins. Methylation did not alter the cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activator properties of these calmodulins. A genetically engineered calmodulin containing an arginine at position 115 instead of a lysine was produced by site-specific mutagenesis of a cloned synthetic calmodulin gene. The arginine derivative retained the higher maximal NAD kinase activator properties of the unmethylated calmodulins but was no longer susceptible to the effects of the methyltransferase. The data indicate that the reduction in the level of NAD kinase activation is the direct result of trimethylation of lysine 115 of calmodulin, provide a precedent for a functional effect of trimethyllysine in a protein, and raise the possibility that some of calmodulin's physiological activities may be affected by lysine methylation.     

Chemical synthesis and expression of a calmodulin gene designed for site-specific mutagenesis

A gene coding for a calmodulin was synthesized and expressed in Escherichia coli. The gene was produced by the enzymatic ligation of 61 chemically synthesized DNA fragments. The gene possesses 27 unique, regularly spaced, restriction endonuclease cleavage sites to facilitate gene mutagenesis by the replacement of specific gene segments with synthetic double-stranded DNA. An expression vector containing the calmodulin gene was used to transform E. coli. Purification and characterization of calmodulin (VU-1 calmodulin) expressed by these transformants showed that it lacks two posttranslational modifications: an amino-terminal blocking group and N epsilon, N epsilon, N epsilon-trimethyllysine at position 115. The cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activator properties of VU-1, higher plant, and vertebrate calmodulins were not statistically different. However, VU-1 calmodulin was found to activate nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) kinase to a maximal level that was at least 3-fold higher than that found with higher plant and vertebrate calmodulins. This higher level of activation is also characteristic of calmodulins from Dictyostelium discoideum and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii [Roberts, D. M., Burgess, W. H., & Watterson, D. M. (1984) Plant Physiol. 75, 796-798; Marshak, D. R., Clarke, M., Roberts, D. M., & Watterson, D. M. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 2891-2899]. The only common feature among Dictyostelium, Chlamydomonas, and VU-1 calmodulins not found in higher plant and vertebrate calmodulins is an unmethylated lysine at position 115. The results indicate that the lack of methylation of lysine-115 may contribute to the maximal level of NAD kinase activation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Response of three enzymes to oleic acid, trypsin, and calmodulin chemically modified with a reactive phenothiazine

Calmodulin was covalently modified with 10-(1-propionyloxysuccinimide)-2-trifluoromethylphenothiazine++ + to stoichiometries between 0 and 2 mol/mol in the presence of Ca2+. The modified calmodulins, oleic acid, and trypsin were assayed for their ability to activate pea plant NAD kinase, bovine brain 3',5'-cAMP phosphodiesterase, and human erythrocyte Ca2+-ATPase. All modified calmodulins activated both phosphodiesterase and Ca2+-ATPase; at the highest concentration assayed, calmodulin modified with 2 mol of reagent/mol activated phosphodiesterase and Ca2+-ATPase to 53% and 100%, respectively, of the activation obtained with unmodified calmodulin. However, higher concentrations of the modified calmodulins were required to observe the same activation; at least 900-fold and 100-fold higher concentrations were required for the two enzymes, respectively. NAD kinase was not activated by any calmodulin labeled to a stoichiometry greater than 1 mol/mol even when a concentration equal to 17,000 times the apparent dissociation constant of calmodulin for NAD kinase was assayed. Therefore, the modified protein (and not some fraction resistant to labeling) is active toward the mammalian enzymes but inactive toward plant NAD kinase. The different response of the three enzymes to the chemical modification suggests that the enzymes may utilize different binding domains on calmodulin. NAD kinase also was not activated by other known activators of the two mammalian enzymes, namely lipids and limited proteolysis. In parallel experiments using the same agents on each enzyme, NAD kinase was the only enzyme of the three that was not activated by oleic acid and several other lipids or by limited trypsin digestion. These results show that NAD kinase possesses several attributes which would not be predicted by current models of the mechanism of activation of enzymes by calmodulin.     

Isolation and characterization of calmodulin from the motile green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Calmodulin, a calcium-binding protein with no known enzymatic activity but multiple, in vitro effector activities, has been purified to apparent homogeneity from the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and compared to calmodulin from vertebrates and higher plants. Chlamydomonas calmodulin was characterized in terms of electrophoretic mobility, amino acid composition, limited amino acid sequence analysis, immunoreactivity, and phosphodiesterase activation. Chlamydomonas calmodulin has two histidine residues similar to calmodulin from the protozoan Tetrahymena. However, unlike the protozoan calmodulin, only one of the histidinyl residues of Chlamydomonas calmodulin is found in the COOH-terminal third of the molecule. Chlamydomonas calmodulin lacks trimethyllysine but does have a lysine residue at the amino acid sequence position corresponding to the trimethyllysine residue in bovine brain and spinach calmodulins. The lack of this post-translational modification does not prevent Chlamydomonas calmodulin from quantitatively activating bovine brain phosphodiesterase. These studies also demonstrate that this unique calmodulin from a phylogenetically earlier eukaryote may be as similar to vertebrate calmodulin as it is to higher plant calmodulins, and suggest that Chlamydomonas calmodulin may more closely approximate the characteristics of a putative precursor of the calmodulin family than any calmodulin characterized to date.     

Primary Structure of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Ribulose 1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase Activase and Evidence for a Single Polypeptide

Immunoblot analysis of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rubisco) activase from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii indicated the presence of a single polypeptide. This observation contrasts with the Spinacea oleracea (spinach) and Arabidopsis thaliana proteins, in which two polypeptide species are generated by alternative pre-mRNA splicing. A Chlamydomonas rubisco activase cDNA clone containing the entire coding region was isolated and sequenced. The open reading frame encoded a 408 amino acid, 45 kilodalton polypeptide that included a chloroplast transit peptide. The presumptive mature polypeptide possessed 62% and 65% amino acid sequence identity, respectively, with the spinach and Arabidopsis mature polypeptides. The Chlamydomonas rubisco activase transit peptide possessed almost no amino acid sequence identity with the higher plant transit peptides. The nucleotide sequence of Chlamydomonas rubisco activase cDNA provided no evidence for alternative mRNA splicing, consistent with the immunoblot evidence for only one polypeptide. Genomic DNA blot analysis indicated the presence of a single Chlamydomonas rubisco activase gene. In the presence of spinach rubisco activase, a lower extent and rate of activation were obtained in vitro with Chlamydomonas rubisco than with spinach rubisco. We conclude Chlamydomonas rubisco activase comprises a single polypeptide which differs considerably from the higher plant polypeptides with respect to primary structure.     

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Phosphoribulokinase : Sequence, Purification, and Kinetics

The sequence and kinetic properties of phosphoribulokinase purified from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were determined and compared with the spinach (Spinacea oleracea) enzyme. Chlamydomonas phosphoribulokinase was purified to apparent homogeneity, with a specific activity of 410 micromoles per minute per milligram. Polyclonal antibodies to the purified protein were used to isolate a Chlamydomonas cDNA clone, which, upon sequencing, was found to contain the entire coding region. The transit peptide cleavage site was determined by Edman analysis of the mature protein. The precursor protein consists of a 31 amino acid transit peptide and a 344 amino acid mature polypeptide. The mature polypeptide has a calculated molecular weight of 38.5 kilodaltons and a pl of 5.75. The V_max of the purified enzyme was 465 micromoles per minute per milligram, with apparent K_m values of 62 micromolar ATP and 56 micromolar ribulose 5-phosphate. Immunoblot analysis indicated antigenic similarity and a similar subunit size for the enzyme from five higher plant species and Chlamydomonas. Southern blot analysis of Chlamydomonas genomic DNA indicated the presence of a single phosphoribulokinase gene. Comparison of the mature proteins from Chlamydomonas and spinach revealed 86 amino acid differences in primary structure (25% of the total) without a major difference in kinetic properties. The transit peptides of the spinach and Chlamydomonas proteins possessed little sequence homology.     

A site-directed mutagenesis study of yeast calmodulin

A site-directed mutagenesis study was carried out in order to understand the regulatory mechanism of calmodulin. We started from the yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) calmodulin gene since it has many differences in amino acid sequence and inferior functional properties compared with the vertebrate calmodulin. Recombinant yeast calmodulins were generated in Escherichia coli transformed by constructed expression plasmids. Three recombinant calmodulins were obtained. The first two were YCM61G, in which the Ca2(+)-binding site 2 (the four Ca2(+)-binding EF-hand structures in calmodulin were numbered from the N-terminus) was converted to the same as that in vertebrate calmodulin, and YCM delta 132-148, in which the C-terminal half sequence of site 4 was deleted. These two recombinant calmodulins had the same maximum Ca2+ binding (3 mol/mol) as yeast calmodulin, which indicates that site 4 of yeast calmodulin was the one losing Ca2+ binding capacity. YCM delta 132-148 could not activate target enzymes, whereas its Ca2+ binding profile was similar to those of yeast calmodulin and YCM61G. Therefore, the structure in site 4 which cannot bind Ca2+ is indispensable for the regulatory function of yeast calmodulin. The complete regulatory function of vertebrate calmodulin can be attained by the combination of 4 Ca2+ binding structures. The negative charge cluster in the central alpha-helix region is suggested to stabilize the active conformation of calmodulin, since the third yeast calmodulin mutant, YCM83E, which had the negative charge cluster, increased the maximum activation of myosin light chain kinase.     

Purification and biochemical properties of calmodulin from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Calmodulin from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was purified to complete homogeneity by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and HPLC gel filtration. The biochemical properties of the purified protein as calmodulin were examined under various criteria and its similarity and dissimilarity to other calmodulins have been described. Like other calmodulins, yeast calmodulin activated bovine phosphodiesterase and pea NAD kinase in a Ca2+-dependent manner, but its concentration for half-maximal activation was 8-10 times that of bovine calmodulin. The amino acid composition of yeast calmodulin was different from those of calmodulins from other lower eukaryotes in that it contained no tyrosine, but more leucine and had a high ratio of serine to threonine. Yeast calmodulin did not contain tryptophanyl or tyrosyl residues, so its ultraviolet spectrum reflected the absorbance of phenylalanyl residues, and had a molar absorption coefficient at 259 nm of 1900 M-1 cm-1. Ca2+ ions changed the secondary structure of yeast calmodulin, causing a 3% decrease in the alpha-helical content, unlike its effect on other calmodulins. Antibody against yeast calmodulin did not cross-react with bovine calmodulin, and antibody against bovine calmodulin did not cross-react with yeast calmodulin, presumably due to differences in the amino acid sequences of the antigenic sites. It is concluded that the molecular structure of yeast calmodulin differs from those of calmodulins from other sources, but that its Ca2+-dependent regulatory functions are highly conserved and essentially similar to those of calmodulins of higher eukaryotes.     

Calmodulin from neurospora crassa. General properties and conformational changes

Calmodulin from Neurospora crassa has been purified to electrophoretic homogeneity. Equilibrium gel filtration experiments suggest that its Ca-binding properties are indistinguishable from those of vertebrate calmodulins. The isoelectric point of 4.04 and electrophoretic behavior under nondenaturing conditions indicate that N. crassa calmodulin is slightly less acidic than its vertebrate counterpart. The amino acid composition is typical of plant calmodulins with the exception that trimethyllysine is absent and that the content of Ser is unusually high. The tryptic peptide map of N. crassa calmodulin reveals an important number of point mutations as compared to vertebrate calmodulin. Differences in primary structure may explain why N. crassa calmodulin is less potent in the activation of myosin light chain kinase than calmodulins from higher organisms. The far UV circular dichroic spectra of the Ca-, Mg-, and metal-free forms of N. crassa calmodulin are similar to those of vertebrate calmodulin; in contrast, the near UV circular dichroic spectra are very different, apparently due to the differences in Tyr content. The single Tyr residue of N. crassa calmodulin, presumably located in position 138, undergoes an inversion of optical chirality upon addition of Ca2+, but not of Mg2+, to the metal-free protein.     

Calmodulins from muscles of marine invertebrates, scallop and sea anemone

Invertebrate calmodulins of the sea anemone and scallop muscle were isolated and their properties were compared with those of vertebrate calmodulins from rabbit muscle and pig brain. The molecular weights estimated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were similar to the molecular weight (16,500) of the vertebrate calmodulins. Every calmodulin contained 1 mol each of trimethyllysine and histidine, and high contents of acidic amino acids. The marine invertebrate calmodulins contained only one tyrosine in contrast to two tyrosines in the vertebrate ones. As a result, the UV absorption spectra were clearly different. The Ca2+-induced difference UV absorption spectra of the invertebrate calmodulins were indistinguishable from those of the vertebrate ones in spite of the difference in tyrosine contents. In tryptic peptide maps of invertebrate calmodulins, a few spots different from those of vertebrate calmodulins were observed in the basic and acidic peptide regions. The calmodulins of invertebrate muscles and that of rabbit skeletal muscle were almost indistinguishable in terms of the activation profile of rabbit skeletal myosin light chain kinase.     

Cloning of cDNA Sequences Encoding the Calcium-Binding Protein, Calmodulin, from Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Full- and partial-length cDNAs encoding calmodulin mRNA have been cloned and sequenced from barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Barley leaf mRNA, size-fractionated in sucrose density gradients, was used to synthesize double-stranded cDNA. The cDNA was cloned in λgt10 and screened with a synthetic, 14-nucleotide oligonucleotide probe, which was designed using the predicted coding sequences of the carboxy termini of spinach and wheat calmodulin proteins. The primary structure of barley calmodulin, predicted from DNA sequencing experiments, consists of 148 amino acids and differs from that of wheat calmodulin in only three positions. In two of the three positions, the amino acid changes are conservative, while the third change consists of an apparent deletion/insertion. The overall nucleotide sequence similarity between the amino acid coding regions of barley and vertebrate calmodulin mRNAs is approximately 77%. However, a region encoding 11 amino acids of the second Ca²⁺-binding domain is very highly conserved at the nucleotide level compared with the rest of the coding sequences (94% sequence identity between barley and chicken calmodulin mRNAs). Genomic Southern blots reveal that barley calmodulin is encoded by a single copy gene. This gene is expressed as a single size class of mRNA in all tissues of 7-day-old barley seedlings. In addition, these analyses indicate that a barley calmodulin cDNA coding region subclone is suitable as a probe for isolating calmodulin genes from other plants.     

Structural and functional properties of calmodulin from the eukaryotic microorganism Dictyostelium discoideum

Calmodulin was purified from the eukaryotic microorganism Dictyostelium discoideum and characterized in terms of its nearly complete primary structure and quantitative activator activity. The strategy for amino acid sequence analysis took advantage of the highly conserved structure of calmodulin and employed a new procedure for limited cleavage of calmodulin that uses a protease from mouse submaxillary gland. Fourteen amino acid sequence differences between Dictyostelium and bovine calmodulin were identified unequivocally, as well as an unmethylated lysine at residue 115 instead of N epsilon, N epsilon, N epsilon-trimethyllysine. Seven of the amino acid substitutions in Dictyostelium calmodulin are novel in that the residues at these positions are invariant in all calmodulin sequences previously examined, most notably an additional residue at the carboxy terminus. Comparison of the Dictyostelium calmodulin sequence with other calmodulin sequences shows that the region with the greatest extended sequence identity includes parts of the first and second structural domains and the interdomain region between domains 1 and 2. Dictyostelium calmodulin activated bovine brain cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase in a manner indistinguishable from that of bovine brain calmodulin. However, Dictyostelium calmodulin activated pea NAD kinase to a maximal level 4.6-fold greater than that produced by bovine brain calmodulin. This functional difference demonstrates the potential biological importance of the limited number of amino acid sequence differences between Dictyostelium calmodulin and other calmodulins and provides further insight into the structure, function, and evolution of the calmodulin family of proteins.     

An enzymatic assay for calmodulins based on plant NAD kinase activity

NAD kinase with increased sensitivity to calmodulin was purified from pea seedlings (Pisum sativum L., Willet Wonder). Assays for calmodulin based on the activities of NAD kinase, bovine brain cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase, and human erythrocyte Ca2+-ATPase were compared for their sensitivities to calmodulin and for their abilities to discriminate between calmodulins from different sources. The activities of the three enzymes were determined in the presence of various concentrations of calmodulins from human erythrocyte, bovine brain, sea pansy (Renilla reniformis), mung bean seed (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek), mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), and Tetrahymena pyriformis. The concentrations of calmodulin required for 50% activation of the NAD kinase (K0.5) ranged from 0.520 ng/ml for Tetrahymena to 2.20 ng/ml for bovine brain. The K0.5's ranged from 19.6 ng/ml for bovine brain calmodulin to 73.5 ng/ml for mushroom calmodulin for phosphodiesterase activation. The K0.5's for the activation of Ca2+-ATPase ranged from 36.3 ng/ml for erythrocyte calmodulin to 61.7 ng/ml for mushroom calmodulin. NAD kinase was not stimulated by phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylserine, cardiolipin, or palmitoleic acid in the absence or presence of Ca2+. Palmitic acid had a slightly stimulatory effect in the presence of Ca2+ (10% of maximum), but no effect in the absence of Ca2+. Palmitoleic acid inhibited the calmodulin-stimulated activity by 50%. Both the NAD kinase assay and radioimmunoassay were able to detect calmodulin in extracts containing low concentrations of calmodulin. Estimates of calmodulin contents of crude homogenates determined by the NAD kinase assay were consistent with amounts obtained by various purification procedures.     

Plant and fungus calmodulins are polyubiquitinated at a single site in a Ca2(+)-dependent manner

In plants Ca2+ plays a crucial role as second messenger. Thus calmodulin is one of the most important signal transducing molecules for metabolic regulation in plants. Previously we showed that bovine testis calmodulin can be covalently coupled at one site to ubiquitin in a Ca2(+)-dependent manner in the presence of ATP/Mg2+ by ubiquityl-calmodulin synthetase. Since calmodulin from spinach has 13 amino acid sequence differences to bovine calmodulin - two of them in Ca2(+)-binding loops - it was unclear, whether a conjugation of ubiquitin to this molecule would be possible. In this paper it is shown that calmodulin from spinach and a similar calmodulin from the mold Neurospora crassa can be covalently conjugated to ubiquitin in a Ca2(+)-dependent manner. It is shown that higher molecular mass conjugates containing up to three ubiquitin molecules per calmodulin are obtained. Experiments with methylated ubiquitin demonstrate that, as with vertebrate calmodulins, only one lysine residue is linked to ubiquitin and that the incorporation of additional ubiquitin molecules leads to a polyubiquitin chain.     

The effects of deletions in the central helix of calmodulin on enzyme activation and peptide binding

Using site-directed mutagenesis we have expressed in Escherichia coli three engineered calmodulins (CaM) containing deletions in the solvent-exposed region of the central helix. These are CaM delta 84, Glu-84 removed; CaM delta 83-84, Glu-83 and Glu-84 removed; and CaM delta 81-84, Ser-81 through Glu-84 removed. The abilities of these proteins to activate skeletal muscle myosin light chain kinase, plant NAD kinase, and bovine brain calcineurin activities were determined, as were their abilities to bind a synthetic peptide based on the calmodulin-binding domain of skeletal muscle myosin light chain kinase. Similar results were obtained with all three deletion proteins. Vm values for enzymes activated by the deletion proteins are all within 10-20% of those values obtained with bacterial control calmodulin. Relative to bacterial control values, changes in Kact or Kd values associated with the deletions are all less than an order of magnitude: Kact values for NAD kinase and myosin light chain kinase are increased 5-7-fold, Kd values for binding of the synthetic peptide are increased 4-7-fold, and Kact values for calcineurin are increased only 1-3-fold. In assays of NAD kinase and myosin light chain kinase activation some differences between bovine calmodulin and bacterial control calmodulin were observed. With NAD kinase, Kact values for the bacterial control protein are increased 4-fold relative to values for bovine calmodulin, and Vm values are increased by 50%; with myosin light chain kinase, Kact values are increased 2-fold and Vm values are decreased 10-15% relative to those values obtained with bovine calmodulin. These differences between bacterial control and bovine calmodulins probably can be attributed to known differences in postranslational processing of calmodulin in bacterial and eucaryotic cells. No differences between bovine and control calmodulins were observed in assays of calcineurin activation or peptide binding. Our observations indicate that contacts with the deleted residues, Ser-81 through Glu-84, are not critical in the calmodulin-target complexes we have evaluated. Formation of these calmodulin-target complexes also does not appear to be greatly affected by the global alterations in the structure of calmodulin that are associated with the deletions. In models in which the central helix is maintained in the altered calmodulins, each deleted residue causes the two lobes of calmodulin to be twisted 100 degrees relative to one another and brought 1.5 A closer together.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)