Functional consequences of the proteolytic removal of regulatory serines from the nonhelical tailpiece of Acanthamoeba myosin II

The actin-activated Mg2(+)-ATPase activity of myosin II from Acanthamoeba castellanii is regulated by phosphorylation of 3 serines in its 29-residue, nonhelical, COOH-terminal tailpiece, i.e., serines-1489, -1494, and -1499 or, in reverse order, residues 11, 16, and 21 from the COOH terminus. To investigate the essential requirements for regulation, myosin II filaments in the presence of F-actin were digested by arginine-specific submaxillary gland protease. Two-dimensional peptide mapping of purified, cleaved myosin II showed that the two most terminal phosphorylation sites, serines-1494 and -1499, had been removed. Cleaved dephosphorylated myosin II retained full actin-activated Mg2(+)-ATPase activity (with no change in Vmax or Kapp) and the ability to form filaments similar to those of the native enzyme. However, higher Mg2+ concentrations were required for both filament formation and maximal ATPase activity. The one remaining regulatory serine in the cleaved myosin II was phosphorylatable by myosin II heavy-chain kinase, and phosphorylation inactivated the actin-activated Mg2(+)-ATPase activity, as in the case of the native myosin II. Also as in the case of the native myosin II, phosphorylated cleaved myosin II inhibited the actin-activated Mg2(+)-ATPase activity of dephosphorylated cleaved myosin II when the two were copolymerized. These results suggest that at least 18 of the 29 residues in the nonhelical tailpiece of the heavy chain are not required for either actin-activated Mg2(+)-ATPase activity or filament formation and that phosphorylation of Ser-1489 is sufficient to regulate the actin-activated Mg2(+)-ATPase activity of myosin II.