Ca2+ bindings of pig cardiac myosin, subfragment-1, and g2 light chain.

Ca2+ binding to pig cardiac myosin, subfragment-1 (S-1), and g2 light chain were investigated by the equilibrium dialysis method. Two different S-1s, one of which can bind Ca2+ and another which cannot, were prepared. In order to calculate the free Ca2+ concentrations adequately, the amounts of Ca2+ included in various chemicals and proteins were measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Ca2+ contamination was greatest in KCl among the chemicals tested. In addition, the Ca2+ strongly bound to myosin and S-1 was released in the presence of Mg2+. When Mg2+ was not added, the Ca2+-binding constant of myosin was 4 x 10(5) M-1 and the maximum binding number was 1.8 mol per mol of myosin. Cooperativity between the 2 Ca2+ bindings could not be demonstrated. Mg2+ strongly inhibited the Ca2+ binding: at a free Ca2+ concentration of 1 x 10(-5) M, 1.3 mol Ca2+ was bound to myosin in the absence of Mg2+, but 0.6 and 0.2 mol were bound in the presence of 0.3 and 4.5 mM Mg2+, respectively. The Ca2+-binding constant of S-1, which contained a 15,000 dalton component, was 8.6 x 10(5) M-1, and the maximum binding number was 0.7 mol per mol of S-1. The 15,000 dalton component could be exchanged with extraneous g2. S-1 which lacked the 15,000 component could not bind Ca2+ at free Ca2+ concentrations less than 0.1 mM. The Ca2+ binding to free g2 light chain was about 100 times weaker than the binding to myosin, as indicated previously for skeletal myosin (Okamoto, Y. & Yagi, K. (1976) J. Biochem. 80, 111--120). The Ca2+-binding constant was obtained as 4.1 x 10(3) M-1 in the absence of added Mg2+. Phosphorylation of g2 light chain did not affect the Ca2+ binding to the free g2 light chain or to myosin. Ca2+ binding to cardiac native tropomyosin was also measured.     

Adiabatic compressibility of myosin subfragment-1 and heavy meromyosin with or without nucleotide.

The partial specific adiabatic compressibilities of myosin subfragment-1 (S1) and heavy meromyosin (HMM) of skeletal muscle in solution were determined by measuring the density and the sound velocity of the solution. The partial specific volumes of S1 and HMM were 0.713 and 0.711 cm3/g, respectively. The partial specific adiabatic compressibilities of S1 and HMM were 4.2 x 10(-12) and 2.9 x 10(-12) cm2/dyn, respectively. These values are in the same range as the most of globular proteins so far studied. The result indicates that the flexibility of S1 region almost equals to that of HMM. After binding to ADP.orthovanadate, S1 and HMM became softer than their complexes with ADP. The bulk moduli of S1 and HMM were of the order of (4-6) x 10(10) dyn/cm2, which are very comparable with the bulk modulus of muscle fiber.     

Dynamic affinity chromatography of heavy meromyosin subfragment-1.

Heavy meromyosin subfragment-1 and its trinitrophenylated derivative have been chromatographed on immobilized ATP, ADP and adenosine 5'-(geta, gamma-imino) triphosphate affinity chromatography columns, in the presence and in the absence of Ng-2+ or Ca-2+.ma-32-P] ATP columns. While the divalent cations had little effect on the chromatographic pattern in the case of the non-hydrolyzable ADP and adenosine 5' (beta, gamma-imino) triphosphate, they catalyzed splitting in the case of ATP and at the same time strongly increased the affinity of adsorption of the proteins. The protein-elution and the Pi-release patterns were different for the native and the modified proteins. These results have been interpreted in terms of protein binding to the various intermediates of the ATP hydrolysis reaction.     

The interaction of C-protein with heavy meromyosin and subfragment-2.

C-protein has previously been shown to bind to the light-meromyosin region of the myosin tail. Examination of mixtures of C-protein with heavy meromyosin or subfragment-2 or subfragment-1 in the analytical ultracentrifuge shows that there is also a binding site for C-protein in the subfragment-2 region of the tail.     

Characterization of thermotropic state changes in myosin subfragment-1 and heavy meromyosin by UV difference spectroscopy

Thermotropic structural transitions in rabbit skeletal muscle heavy meromyosin and subfragment-1 (S-1) have been quantitatively investigated by using nucleotide-induced UV difference spectroscopy. The magnitude of the adenylyl 5'-imidophosphate (AMP-PNP)-induced difference spectrum is temperature-dependent for both S-1 and heavy meromyosin (HMM). The transition observed here appears to be the same transition observed by 31P NMR of bound AMP-PNP (Shriver, J., and Sykes, B. D. (1981) Biochemistry 20, 2004-2012). The ADP-induced spectrum is temperature-independent, which differs from the 31P NMR data, indicating that the chromophore contributing to the difference spectrum resides in a domain distinct from the active site, at least when ADP is bound. Although the magnitudes of the AMP-PNP-induced spectra are equal in magnitude for S-1 and HMM on a globular head basis, the temperature dependence of the AMP-PNP induced difference spectrum for S-1 differs significantly from that of HMM. The van't Hoff enthalpy for the apparent two-state transition in S-1 is half that observed with HMM: 19 (+/- 7.5) kcal/mol for S-1 and 35 (+/- 5) kcal/mol for HMM. This indicates an additional cooperative interaction in HMM which is not present in S-1. Modification of SH1 results in the loss of the temperature dependence of the AMP-PNP-induced difference spectrum, and the resulting difference spectra appear identical to those induced by ADP.     

The substructure of heavy meromyosin. The effect of Ca2+ and Mg2+ on the tryptic fragmentation of heavy meromyosin.

Heavy meromyosin, obtained by tryptic digestion of myosin, containing two main polypeptides whose masses were estimated as 81,000 and 74,000 dlatons from Na dodecyl-SO4 polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, was further digested with trypsin. The Ca2+-activated ATPase activity remainded unchanged and the K+-EDTA activity increased while various smaller fragments were formed. The formation of some of these fragments is affected by Ca2+ or Mg2+ as first shown by Bálint et al. (Bálint, M., Schaefer, A., Biro, N. A., Menczel, L., AND Fejes, E. (1971) J. Physiol. Chem. Phys. 3, 455). On the basis of the time course of the appearance of fragments the following relationship emerges: see article. The 64K leads to 60K step is inhibited by divalent cations, while the breakdown of the 74K fragment is accelerated. The effect of Ca2+ was maximal at 0 similar to 0.1 muM, that of Mg2+ at 10 muM. The original light chains of myosin are not present in the heavy meromyosin serving as the starting material, but peptide material appears on electrophoresis in positions starting material, but peptide material appears on electrophoresis in positions where the light chains would be found. The fragments marked by an asterisk are considered to ba alpha-helical on the basis of their solubility at low ionic strength after precipitation with ethanol (Bálint et al.). The fact that alpha helical fragments are derived from the 60,000-dalton fragment indicateds that it is adjacent to the light meromyosin in the intact myosin while the 74,000- dalton fragment would be part of heavy meromysoin subfragment 1. Chromatography of Sephadex G-200 separates fractions with ATPase activity corresponding to heavy meromyosin and heavy meromyosin subfragment 1. Electrophoresis of these Sephadex fractions suggests that the main peptide constituting heavy meromysoin subfragment 1 is connected by noncobalent forces to a portion of the rod that is not immediately adjacent to it in the primary sequence. The significance of this finding is discussed in terms of the flexibility of the myosin head.     

Effect of skeletal muscle myosin light chain 2 on the Ca2+-sensitive interaction of myosin and heavy meromyosin with regulated actin

A low-speed centrifugation assay has been used to examine the binding of myosin filaments to F-action and to regulated actin in the presence of MgATP. While the cross-linking of F-actin by myosin was Ca2+ insensitive, much less regulated actin was cross-linked by myosin in the absence of Ca2+ than in its presence. Removal of the 19000-dalton, phosphorylatable light chain from myosin resulted in the loss of this Ca2+ sensitivity. Readdition of this light chain partially restored the Ca2+-sensitive cross-linking of regulated actin by myosin. Urea gel electrophoresis has been used to distinguish that fraction of heavy meromyosin which contains intact phosphorylatable light chain from that which contains a 17000-dalton fragment of this light chain. In the absence of Ca2+, heavy meromyosin which contained digested light chain bound to regulated actin in MgATP about 10-fold more tightly than did heavy meromyosin which contained intact light chain. The regulated actin-activated ATPases of heavy meromyosin also showed that cleavage of this light chain causes a substantial increase in the affinity of heavy meromyosin for regulated actin in the absence of Ca2+. Thus, the binding of both myosin and heavy meromyosin to regulated actin is Ca2+ sensitive, and this sensitivity is dependent on the phosphorylatable light chain.     

Affinity chromatography of heavy meromyosin subfragment-1 reacted with thiol reagents.

Separation of heavy meromyosin subfragment-1 treated with N-ethyl maleimide (MalNEt) into native -SH1- and -(SH1, SH2)-blocked protein populations could be achieved by affinity chromatography on agarose-ATP columns in the presence of Mg2+ or Ca2+. Covalent bridging of the two -SH groups by p-phenylenedimaleimide gave a product which has the same affinity of binding to ATP columns as the doubly blocked MalNEt preparation. Treatment with p-phenylenedimaleimide abolished binding to immobilized F-actin columns, whereas modifications by MalNEt did not affect adsorption by this chromatographic medium. Affinity chromatography on immobilized nucleotide and actin columns is suggested as an analytical tool in the study of the involvement of thiol groups in the myosin active site and its conformation.     

Incorporation of a stabilizing Ca(2+)-binding loop into subtilisin BPN'.

A rational approach was taken to improve the stability of subtilisin BPN' to autoproteolysis. Two sites of autoproteolysis were identified by isolation of early autolysis products and amino-terminal sequence analysis. These studies showed that subtilisin rapidly cleaves Ala48-Ser49 and Ser163-Thr164 peptide bonds at elevated temperatures. These two sites appear in regions of high mobility as estimated from crystallographic B-factors and are in extended surface loops. To improve the resistance to thermal-induced autolysis, we replaced sequences around these two sites with sequences derived from a thermophilic homologue of subtilisin, thermitase. Thermitase contains a Ca(2+)-binding site in the region surrounding Ser49. When the Ca(2+)-binding segment of thermitase corresponding to residues 45-63 of subtilisin BPN' was installed into subtilisin BPN', the chimeric protein gained the ability to bind another Ca2+ with moderate affinity (Kd approximately 100 microM). This enzyme had the same kcat as wild-type, had a KM value 8-fold larger than wild-type, and was slightly less stable to thermal inactivation in EDTA. However, in 10 mM CaCl2, the mutant subtilisin BPN' was 10-fold more stable to irreversible inactivation at 60 degrees C than wild-type subtilisin BPN' as measured by residual activity against the substrate sAAPF-pna. Next, mutations and deletions derived from thermitase were introduced near the second autolysis loop in subtilisin BPN' (residues 158-165). However, all of these mutants were less stable than wild-type subtilisin. Thus, some (but not all) mutations derived from a thermophilic homologue near sites of autolysis can be stabilizing to a mesophilic protease.     

Immunochemical evidence for the species-specificity of mammalian cardiac myosin and heavy meromyosin.

Structural differences between various myosins were investigated by means of antibodies to heavy meromyosin, a tryptic subfragment of myosin. Heavy meromyosin was purified from rabbit white skeletal and from pig and human cardiac muscles by gel filtration, and antisera were produced in guinea pigs. Analyses, carried out with the quantitative micro-complement fixation technique, indicated that the antibodies were specific to heavy meromyosin and myosin and not to other contractile proteins. For each muscle type, the corresponding intact myosin reacted, and the degree of dixation was always lower than with heavy meromyosin (50 and 70% fixation respectively). This vertical shift was the same for the three muscle types, indicating that the heavy meromyosin represent corresponding fragments of the myosin molecule from one muscle to the other. Antisera to pig or human cardiac heavy meromyosin clearly distinguished antigens (heavy meromyosins, myosins, or crude extracts) from the ventricles of various heterologous species. Relative to pig, the immunological distances were 50 for the rabbit, 73 for the rat and greater than 100 for human and mice. Relative to human, these values were 20 for the rat, 60 for the rabbit, 72 for the pig. These data provide direct evidence that mammalian cardiac myosin is species-specific.     

Influence of myosin heavy chains on the Ca2+-binding properties of light chain, LC2

The association of myosin light chains with heavy chains, i.e. the intact oligomeric structure, profoundly affects the Ca²⁺-binding properties of the light chains. The Ca²⁺-binding affinity of the light chains is more than two magnitudes higher in the presence of heavy chains than in its absence. Modification of the reactive SH₂ thiol of myosin results in an alteration in the conformation of heavy chains of the molecule that influences the Ca²⁺-binding properties of light chains and generation of tension. When the SH₂ moiety is blocked with N-ethylmaleimide the influence of the heavy chains on the Ca²⁺-binding properties of light chain LC₂ is lost; under these conditions the Ca²⁺-binding affinity value of SH₂-N-ethylmaleimide-blocked myosin (3.3×10⁴m⁻¹) decreases to near that expressed with the dissociated light chain LC₂ (0.7×10⁴m⁻¹). Conversely, the presence of actin, nucleotides or modification of either the reactive lysyl residue or SH₂ thiol does not affect Ca²⁺ binding. The native secondary and tertiary structure of myosin seem to be required for Ca²⁺ binding; binding does not occur in the presence of 6m-urea with either native myosin or the dissociated light chains. With SH₂-N-ethylmaleimide-blocked myosin normal Ca²⁺- and (Mg²⁺+actin)-stimulated ATPase activities are expressed; however, there is a loss in K⁺-stimulated ATPase activity and the synthetic actomyosin threads of such myosin express no isometric tension. There are also variances in the binding of Ca²⁺ with alterations in pH values. In the absence of Ca²⁺/EGTA buffer the biphasic Ca²⁺-binding affinity of myosin is twice as high at pH7.4 (site one: 1.2×10⁶m⁻¹ and site two: 0.4×10⁶m⁻¹) as compared with values obtained at pH6.5 (site one: 0.64×10⁶m⁻¹ and site two: 0.2×10⁶m⁻¹). The Ca²⁺-binding affinity of light chain LC₂ and S₁, where the (S-1)–(S-2) junction was absent, were not influenced by changes in pH values. Both expressed a low Ca²⁺-binding affinity, approx. 0.7×10⁴m⁻¹, whereas heavy meromyosin, where both (S-1) and (S-2) myosin subfragments were present, expressed a Ca²⁺-binding affinity value similar to that of native myosin, but was not biphasic. However, it is important to point out than in preparation of S₁ myosin subfragment light chain LC₂ was lost and thus was added back to the purified S₁ fraction. Light chain LC₂ was not, however, added to the heavy meromyosin fraction because it was not lost during preparation of the heavy meromyosin subfragment. In conclusion, it appears that the (S-1)–(S-2) junction is needed for the positioning of light chain LC₂ and thus influences its essential conformation for Ca²⁺ binding.     

Fluorescence studies on the nucleotide- and Ca2+-binding domains of molluscan myosin.

The effects of nucleotides and Ca2+ on the intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence of molluscan myosin and its proteolytic fragments were studied. By using these proteins from the scallop, Pecten maximus, the existence of two distinct tryptophan-containing domains was established, which respond independently to ATP and Ca2+-specific binding. The latter is located in the 'neck' region of the myosin, which constitutes the regulatory domain. Subfragment 1, lacking the regulatory domain, responded only to ATP binding. On the other hand a tryptic fragment comprising the regulatory domain responded only to Ca2+ binding. Subfragment 1, containing the regulatory domain, responded to both ATP and Ca2+, but its ATPase activity was Ca2+-insensitive. By contrast, the ATPase activity of HMM was Ca2+-sensitive. Increasing the ionic strength had a detrimental effect on Ca2+-sensitivity, and fluorescence studies on solubilized myosin were therefore of limited value. Myosin and its fragments from other molluscan species which were investigated produced similar changes to those of Pectan maximus.     

Tyrosine and tyrosinate fluorescence of pig intestinal Ca2+-binding protein.

The single tyrosine residue in both pig and cow intestinal Ca2+-binding proteins fluoresces at 303 nm although the crystal structure of the cow protein shows a hydrogen bond between the hydroxy group of the tyrosine and glutamate-38 [Szebenyi & Moffat (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 8761-8777]. The latter interaction suggests that tyrosinate fluorescence should dominate the emission spectra of these proteins. A fluorescence difference spectrum, produced by subtracting the spectrum of free tyrosine from the spectrum of the protein, gives a peak at 334 nm due to ionized tyrosine. That this component of the emission spectrum is not due to a tryptophan-containing contaminant is shown by its elimination when the protein is denatured by guanidine and when glutamate-38 is protonated. We conclude that, in solution, the tyrosine residue in this protein interacts occasionally with glutamate-38 but that a permanent hydrogen bond is not formed.     

Heavy meromyosin and subfragment-1 from squid mantle myosin, and Ca-sensitivity of their Mg-ATPases

Heavy meromyosin (HMM) and subfragment-1 (S1) were obtained from squid mantle myosin by tryptic digestion and chymotryptic digestion, respectively. Squid HMM(T) and S1(CT) preparations contained stoichiometric amounts of the two types of light chain subunit; regulatory light chain, LC-2, and essential light chain, LC-1. No difference was detected in the chymotryptic digestibilities of squid mantle myosin in Ca-medium and in EDTA-medium. This is in contrast to the digestibility of scallop adductor myosin. The Mg-ATPase activity of HMM(T) alone and that of acto-HMM(T) were both sensitive to calcium ions. In contrast, the activity of S1(CT) alone and that of acto-S1(CT) were both insensitive to calcium ions. The affinity of HMM(T) for actin was not affected by calcium ions, but the amount of HMM(T) bound to actin was increased by calcium ions from 20% to 60% of the total amount of HMM(T). On the other hand, the actin affinity of S1(CT) and the amount of S1(CT) bound to actin were both unaffected by calcium ions. The role of calcium ions in the regulation of contraction in molluscan muscles is discussed.     

Enzymatic properties of the heavy meromyosin subfragment of cardiac myosin from normal and thyrotoxic rabbits.

Myosin from the hearts of thyrotoxic animals (myosin-T) exhibits elevated Ca2+-ATPase activity. To clarify the physiological significance of this increased activity, we have investigated the steady state kinetics of the interaction of actin and MgATP with the double-headed heavy meromyosin subfragment of cardiac myosin from thyrotoxic rabbits (HMM-T). The enhanced Ca2+-ATPase activity of myosin-T was completely retained in HMM-T. The Vmax for actin-activated MgATP hydrolysis by HMM-T (1.08 +/- 0.10 mumol of Pi/mg/min). Under physiological ionic conditions, the Vmax was 0.14 +/- 0.02 mumol of Pi/mg/min as compared with the normal value of 0.08 +/- 0.01 mumol of Pi/mg/min. Furthermore, the salt dependence of Vmax and Kapp for the actin-activated ATPase of HMM-T differed markedly from normal and resembled that usually associated with the single-headed (S1) cleavage product of myosin. These results suggest that the changes in enzymatic properties of myosin-T are responsible for the increased speed of contraction observed in the hearts of thyrotoxic animals. Also, the alteration in the interaction of HMM-T with actin suggests that a loss of cooperativity between the myosin heads may occur.     

The dissociation constant of the actin-heavy meromyosin subfragment-1 complex.

We measured the binding of [14C]iodoacetamide labeled heavy meromyosin subfragment-1 (S-1) to F-actin by sedimenting the actin-S-1 complex and assaying the radioactivity remaining in the supernatant. The apparent dissociation constants (Kd) at 25 degrees, pH 7.0, were 0.01 to 0.04 muM at 0.027 and 0.08 ionic strengths and 0.07 to 0.14 muM at 0.14 ionic strength. Kd was not altered when the troponin-tropomyosin complex was bound on the actin, nor was it affected by free calcium concentration in the range 10(-4) to 10(-9) M. Measurements of the displacement of labeled S-1 from actin by native S-1 showed labeling had not altered Kd. In control experiments we found that at the low actin concentrations used (0.001-0.5 muM) not all of the actin sedimented and, furthermore, the data suggested that some of the S-1 in the supernatant was bound to supernatant actin. Our estimation of Kd, based on the assumption that all the supernatant S-1 was free, therefore resulted in an apparent Kd greater than the true Kd. We minimized the effect of the supernatant actin artefact by using only the data for high ratios of S-1 to actin, where no less than 75% of the actin sedimented; we estimate that the true Kd values could not be less than half the apparent Kd values.     

Interaction of actin with myosin A and heavy meromyosin.

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