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Biomedical subjects

M F Morales

Publications and source records attributed to M F Morales.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Fluctuations in polarized fluorescence: evidence that muscle cross bridges rotate repetitively during contraction.

Particular thiols of the myosin subfragment 1 moieties of single glycerinated muscle fibers are covalently labeled with rhodamine. By using appropriate solutions such fibers can be relaxed, be in rigor, or develop active isometric tension. The rhodamine is excited by polarized 514.5-nm laser light; the greater than 580-nm fluorescence is resolved into orthogonal components and the intensity of each is measured by a computer-interfaced photon counting system. Fluctuations over-and-above noise appear in steady-state activity but not in relaxation or rigor and not when the fluorophore is actin-attached instead of myosin-attached. Fluctuations also appear in ratios of polarized intensities--quantities sensitive to fluorophore attitude but not to fluorophore number. The fluctuations are dominated by low (approximately 2 Hz) frequencies similar to separately measured ATPase frequencies. The fluctuations are ascribed to repetitive motion of the cross bridges to which the rhodamine is attached.

Actins↗
PubMed1979

On the molecular basis for chemomechanical energy transduction in muscle.

Herein it is developed that energy transduction in muscle is an activity of myosin S-1 and its ligands, actin (A) and nucleotide (N). S-1 shares with other molecular particles (e.g., hemoglobin) the property that binding events at one of its sites, the N-site, influences binding events at a remote site, the A site (specifically, influences both the actin affinity and actin attachment angle at the A site). However, there is a crucial difference between S-1 and the better-known systems. Because the N site is enzymatic, it has a temporal sequence of occupants; this imposes a temporal sequence of actin attitudes--i.e., a sequence of mechanical events.

Actins↗
PubMed1978

Investigation of the shape and size of myosin subfragment 1 using small-angle X-ray scattering.

Measurement of x-ray scattering at very small angles by solutions of myosin subfragment 1 (S1) yields a radius of gyration of 3.24 nm (mean) +/- 0.03 nm (standard error for N = 9). If S1 is assumed to be ellipsoid of revolution, of uniform electron density, with a molecular weight of 1.15 X 10(5) and a partial specific volume of 0.73 cm3 g-1, then the axial ratio of the ellipsoid is 2.89 +/- 0.06 (prolate) or 0.26 +/- 0.01 (oblate), and the major axis is 13.0 +/- 0.2 nm (prolate) or 10.1 +/- 0.1 nm (oblate). Measurements at larger angles allow models of S1 morphology to be tested; theoretical scattering curves for various ellipsoids of revolution were calculated. The observed scatterina can be approximated by the scattering from ellipsoids with axial ratio 2.0 to 3.0 (prolate), or 0.25 to 0.4 (oblate). Models that fit the data over the range of scattering angles from 0 to 30 mrad are: prolate ellipsoid with axial ratio 2.3, major axis 12 nm; and oblate ellipsoid with axial ratio 0.4 and major axis 10 nm. Thus analyses of two parts of the scattering curve, by different methods, indicate that S1 is fae from spherical, and that its morphology may be approximated by ellipsoids of the aforesaid dimensions.

Models, Chemical↗
PubMed1977

Fluctuations in tension during contraction of single muscle fibers.

We have searched for fluctuations in the steady-state tension developed by stimulated single muscle fibers. Such tension "noise" is expected to be present as a result of the statistical fluctuations in the number and/or state of myosin cross-bridges interacting with thin filament sites at any time. A sensitive electro-optical tension transducer capable of resolving the expected fluctuations in magnitude and frequency was constructed to search for the fluctuations. The noise was analyzed by computing the power spectra and amplitude of stochastic fluctuations in the photomultiplier counting rate, which was made proportional to muscle force. The optical system and electronic instrumentation together with the minicomputer software are described. Tensions were measured in single skinned glycerinated rabbit psoas muscle fibers in rigor and during contraction and relaxation. The results indicate the presence of fluctuations in contracting muscles and a complete absence of tension noise in eith rigor or relaxation. Also, a numerical method was developed to simulate the power spectra and amplitude of fluctuations, given the rate constants for association and dissociation of the cross-bridges and actin. The simulated power spectra and the frequency distributions observed experimentally are similar.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Flexibility of myosin rod, light meromyosin, and myosin subfragment-2 in solution.

Myosin rod was prepared by papain proteolysis of myosin. The components of rod, light meromyosin (LMM) and subfragment-2 (S-2), were prepared by proteolysis of myosin and rod, respectively, using trypsin treated with tosylphenylalanine chloromethyl ketone. S-2, thus prepared, was of greater molecular weight than obtained previously, so that the combined molecular weights of LMM and S-2 were equal to that of rod, and S-2 contained virtually all of the region of the rod susceptible to trypsin. Electro-optical measurements were made on the three fragments in 2 mM sodium pyrophosphate, pH 9.3 at 3 degrees, over a large range of protein concentrations. Analysis of the relaxation of birefringence, at low protein concentration where there was no aggregation, showed that LMM (relaxation time 13.1 micros) behaves as a rigid cylinder. Rod (relaxation time 41.2 micros) and S-2 (relaxation time 6.0 micros) had relaxation rates that were too fast for rigid molecules of their dimensions, and therefore are not straight rods. This implies that myosin rod is flexible in the S-2 portion, presumably in the region susceptible to proteolysis. The implications of rod flexibility for the mechanism of muscle contraction are discussed.

Birefringence↗
PubMed1977

4,4'-Bis (1-anilinonaphthalene 8-sulfonate) (bis-ANS): a new probe of the active site of myosin.

The interaction of myosin subfragment-1 (S-1) with 4,4'-bis(1-anilinonaphthalene 8-sulfonate) (bis-ANS) has been studied by monitoring the fluorescence of the latter when the two components form a complex. Because ATP and ATP analogs partially displace complexed bis-ANS it has also been possible to study interactions of S-1 and nucleotides by using the displacement effect. Approximate values of the parameters of these various interactions have been measured. Some possible applications of bis-ANS have been explored. For example, it provides a very convenient method for obtaining the Michaelis constant, Km, in steady-state S-1 nucleoside triphosphatase; this particular application has also provided some evidence for inferring that in Ca2+ (but not in Mg2+) adenosinetriphosphatase (ATP phosphohydrolase, EC 3.6.1.3) S-1 behaves like a mixture of two components, each with its own Km. Clear energy transfer occurs between tryptophan residues and bound bis-ANS. The fluorescence also suggests that S-1 undergoes some slow relaxations following substrate binding.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1976

Affinity of myosin S-1 for F-actin, measured by time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy.

The association constant for myosin subfragment-1 (S-1) and actin was measured, using a new application of fluorescence depolarization which capitalizes on the fact that S-1 has high rotational mobility while F-actin does not. Uncoupling of the time dependences of the anisotropy decay and the association/dissociation phenomena allowed the experimentally determined anisotropy decay curve to be fitted by a sum of two terms weighted by the mole fractions of the free and bound S-1. At 4 degrees C, ionic strength 0.16 M, and pH 7.0, the association constant Ka is (1.73 +/- 0.35) X 10(6) M-1 at infinite dilution. This makes the -deltaG degrees of binding of F-actin to S-1 similar to the -deltaG degrees of binding of ATP to S-1, and the possible physiological relevance of the similarity to muscle contraction is discussed.

Actins↗
PubMed1976

Reciprocal reactivities of specific thiols when actin binds to myosin.

We report measurements of the reactivity (degree of labeling, as mole of ligand per mole of protein, at constant exposure time) of the reactive thiol, "SH1", of a subfragment of myosin (S-1), and of Cys-10 of F-actin under various conditions, using N-iodo-[3H]acetyl-N-(1-sulfo-5-naphthyl)ethylenediamine, a fluorescent radioactive iodoacetamide analog. When either ADP or adenyloyl imidodiphosphate (simulating unhydrolyzed ATP) is bound to the enzymatic site of S-1, the reactivity of "SH1" is slightly enhanced, but when active ATPase is going on, reactivity is reduced by about a third, presumably due to the species, (S-1) ADP,Pi. The reactivity of Cys-10 alone is very low. When the complex, (S-1)-F-actin, is formed, the reactivity of SH1 is strongly decreased, and the reactivity of Cys-10 is strongly increased. The foregoing results explain our further observation (on glycerol-treated rabbit psoas fibers) that when fibers labeled in relaxation solution are compared with fibers labeled in rigor solution, myosin is more reactive and actin is less reactive, in the former case; alpha-actinin and C-protein are also less reactive in the former case.

Actins↗
PubMed1975

Creatine: a possible stimulus skeletal cardiac muscle hypertrophy.

These experiments test whether creatine, a product of muscular contraction, stimulates myofibrillar protein synthesis. It was found that skeletal muscle cells formed both in vitro and in vivo and cardiac muscle cells formed in vivo synthesize myofibrillar proteins faster when supplied creatine in vitro. The rates of synthesis and/or accumulation of three myofibrillar proteins-myosin heavy chain actin, and creatine kinase-were stimulated by creatine. In contrast, the rates of synthesis of total protein and of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and the activities of several nonmyofibrillar enzymes were not altered by creatine. These include lactic dehydrogenase, cathepsin D, acid phosphatase, and beta-acetylglucosaminidase. It is concluded that creatine selectively stimulated the rate of synthesis of contractile proteins in skeletal and cardiac muscle in vitro and may play a role in muscle hypertrophy.

Actins↗
PubMed1974

Change in state of spin labels bound to sarcoplasmic reticulum with change in enzymic state, as deduced from ascorbate-quenching studies.

The ATPase (EC 3.6.1.3) of sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles was reacted to various extents with thiol-directed spin labels. By suspension of the preparation in appropriate solutions, the enzyme could be placed and held in certain intermediate states of the ATPase cycle, or it could be set into steady-state catalysis. Ascorbate added to the system destroyed the spin-label signals with undetectable distortion of the electron paramagnetic resonance spectrum. In general, in the presence of ascorbate, undestroyed signal as a function of time could be described as the sum of two first-order reductions going on in separate compartments with different ascorbate concentrations. In different enzymatic states the proportion of total signal in the two compartments was different, but the first-order velocity constants remained the same. If the labeled membrane was first attacked with Triton, then exposed to ascorbate, signal was destroyed according to a single first-order constant, equal to the faster of the two constants observed with intact membrane, and equal to the constant whereby ascorbate attacks free label in solution. The data were reconciled by a simple rotary model, envisioning that an enzymatic state corresponds to an average angular position of the ATPase and thereby determines the proportion of labeled thiols exposed to external and internal ascorbate concentrations.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1974

Specificity of creatine in the control of muscle protein synthesis.

This study provides additional evidence that creatine, an end product of contraction unique to muscle, is involved in the control of muscle protein synthesis. Creatine is shown to stimulate selectively the rate of synthesis of two major contractile proteins, actin and myosin heavy chain, in cultures of differentiating skeletal muscle. Creatine affects only the rate of synthesis and not the rate of degradation. Several creatine analogs are as effective as creatine in stimulating muscle protein synthesis, creatinine and amino acids such as arginine and glycine are not. Creatine stimulates myosin heavy chain synthesis twofold in cultures of embryonic muscle grown in either normal or dialyzed media.

Actins↗