Regulation of actin-myosin interaction by reversible phosphorylation of myosin and myosin kinase.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R S Adelstein.
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Human cardiac ventricular myosins were prepared from autopsy samples from nine adults, seven infants, and from surgical specimens from seven patients undergoing left ventricular septal myectomy for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Infant myosin differed from adult myosin in two important characteristics: (a) approximately 30% of the 27,000-dalton myosin light chain is replaced by a 28,000-dalton light chain, and (b) the actin-activated myosin MgATPase activity of infant myosin is significantly lower than that of adult myosin (64 nmol phosphate released/mg myosin per min vs. 124 nmol/mg per min at 37 degrees C). The K(+)-EDTA ATPase activity of the myosin measured in 0.5M KCl is also lower in infants (1,210 nmol/mg per min vs. 620 nmol/mg per min at 37 degrees C), but the Ca(++)-activated ATPase is not significantly different. There were no differences in enzymatic activity between the normal adult and cardiomyopathic myosins.A detailed study was performed to investigate possible variations in the structure of the myosin heavy chain in infant, adult, and cardiomyopathic samples. There were no significant differences between infant and normal adult, or between normal adult and cardiomyopathic myosins seen in pyrophosphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, or peptide mapping using alpha-chymotrypsin, papain, or cyanogen bromide to generate peptides. These results suggest that isoenzymes of human ventricular myosin do not exist for the myosin heavy chain in the specimens examined from infants, adults, and patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The decreased actin-activated MgATPase activity found for infant myosin appears to be due solely to a partial replacement of the 27,000-dalton light chain of myosin with a 28,000-dalton light chain.
The various protein components of a reversible phosphorylating system regulating smooth muscle actomyosin Mg-ATPase activity have been purified. The enzyme catalyzing phosphorylation of smooth muscle myosin, myosin-kinase, requires Ca2+ and the Ca2+-binding protein calmodulin for activity and binds calmodulin in a ratio of 1 mol calmodulin to 1 mol of myosin kinase. Myosin kinase can be phosphorylated by the catalytic subunit of cyclic AMP (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase, and phosphorylation of myosin kinase that does not have calmodulin bound results in a marked decrease in the affinity of this enzyme for Ca2+-calmodulin. This effect is reversed when myosin kinase is dephosphorylated by a phosphatase purified from smooth muscle. When the various components of the smooth muscle myosin phosphorylating-dephosphorylating system are reconstituted, a positive correlation is found between the state of myosin phosphorylation and the actin-activated Mg-ATPase activity of myosin. Unphosphorylated and dephosphorylated myosin cannot be activated by actin, but the phosphorylated and rephosphorylated myosin can be activated by actin. The same relationship between phosphorylation and enzymatic activity was found for a chymotryptic peptide of myosin, smooth muscle heavy meromyosin. The findings reported here suggest one mechanism by which Ca2+ and calmodulin may act to regulate smooth muscle contraction and how cAMP may modulate smooth muscle contractile activity.
In vitro experiments support the ideal that the actin-activated MgATPase activity of smooth muscle myosin and myosin from nonmuscle cells is regulated by the phosphorylation of the 20,000 dalton light chain of myosin. Experiments with intact smooth muscles support this mechanism but also raise the possibility that tension may be maintained in the presence of partial dephosphorylation (12). The possibility that smooth muscle contraction may also be modulated by additional regulatory systems (13,29) is to be expected based on experience with other types of muscle. The enzyme myosin light chain kinase catalyzes the phosphorylation of the 20,000 dalton light chain of myosin. This enzyme requires Ca2+-calmodulin for activity. The activity of myosin kinases that have been isolated from avian smooth muscle cells (8) or human platelets (16) can be decreased by phosphorylation. This phosphorylation is catalyzed by cAMP-dependent protein kinase and decreases myosin kinase activity by interfering with the binding of Ca2+-calmodulin. A number of different phosphatases have been purified from smooth muscle (22). These phosphatases play an important role in determining the state of phosphorylation of myosin and myosin kinase. Two areas of particular interest at present are the regulation of phosphatase activity and the physiological significance of myosin kinase phosphorylation.
Smooth muscle myosin was purified from turkey gizzards with the 20,000-dalton light chains in the unphosphorylated state. The actin-activated MgATPase activity was 4 nmol/min/mg at 25 degrees C. When the myosin was phosphorylated to 2 mol of Pi/mol of myosin using purified myosin light chain kinase, calmodulin, and ATP, the actin-activated MgATPase activity rose to 51 nmol/min/mg. Complete dephosphorylation of the same myosin by a purified phosphatase lowered the activity to 5 nmol/min/mg, and complete rephosphorylation of the myosin following inhibition of the phosphatase raised it again to 46 nmol/min/mg. Human platelet myosin could be substituted for turkey gizzard myosin, with similar results. A chymotryptic fragment of smooth muscle myosin which retains the phosphorylated site on the 20,000-dalton light chain of myosin was prepared. Using the same scheme for reversible phosphorylation, this smooth muscle heavy meromyosin was found to show the same positive correlation between phosphorylation of the myosin light chain and the actin-activated MgATPase activity. The results with smooth muscle heavy meromyosin show that the effect of phosphorylation on the actin-activated MgATPase activity can be separated from the effects of phosphorylation on myosin filament assembly.
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Myosin light chain kinase and a fraction of type II cAMP-dependent protein kinase have been partially purified from bovine brain by affinity chromatography on calmodulin-Sepharose. The myosin kinase was purified approximately 3700-fold and has an estimated molecular weight of 130,000 +/- 10,000 by sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis. A fraction of soluble cAMP-dependent protein kinase also bound to calmodulin-Sepharose and was purified 2300-fold. A fraction of this cAMP-dependent protein kinase after purification by glycerol gradient centrifugation was shown to contain the two subunits of calcineurin, a major calmodulin-binding protein in brain, and the two subunits of type II cAMP-dependent protein kinase in a ratio of 1:1:2:2. Its sedimentation coefficient was 8.1 S and 9.0 S when centrifuged in the absence or presence of calmodulin, suggesting the formation of a complex between calmodulin and protein kinase. Our results suggest the possibility that calcineurin may be involved in the interaction between the protein kinase and calmodulin. Furthermore, our studies imply that the regulatory subunit of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase, but not the catalytic subunit, is the site of interaction with calmodulin since the catalytic subunit of protein kinase was partially resolved from the complex by cAMP.
The 20,000-dalton light chain of cardiac muscle myosin can be specifically digested and thereby removed from the rest of the myosin molecule by incubation with a myofibrillar protease (Malhotra, A., Huang, S., and Bhan, A. (1979) Biochemistry 18, 461-467). In order to study the effects of phosphorylation of the 20,000-dalton myosin light chain, experiments were carried out with cardiac muscle myosin that was made deficient in this light chain following proteolysis. Both the phosphorylated and unphosphorylated isolated 20,000-dalton myosin light chain of cardiac muscle myosin were found to bind to light chain-deficient myosin. Prior to readdition of the isolated light chains, this light chain-deficient myosin was found to have a higher MgATPase activity in the presence and absence of actin, than native myosin. Binding of the unphosphorylated myosin light chain restored the MgATPase activity of light chain-deficient myosin to that of native cardiac myosin. In contrast, the binding of 2 mol of the previously phosphorylated myosin light chain did not lower the actin-activated MgATPase activity. The results suggest that while phosphorylation of the 20,000-dalton light chain of cardiac muscle myosin is not essential for the actin-activated MgATPase activity, it may have a modulatory role.
Smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase was purified from turkey gizzards. The enzyme was extracted from washed myofibrils and the final step of purification was affinity chromatography using calmodulin coupled to Sepharose 4B. The purified enzyme was characterized with respect to its physical, chemical, and kinetic properties. It has a molecular weight of 130,000 by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and 124,000 by sedimentation equilibrium centrifugation under nondenaturing conditions. It is an asymmetric molecule with a Stokes radius of 75 A, a sedimentation coefficient of 4.45 S, and a frictional coefficient of 1.85. Smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase is dependent on the calcium-binding protein calmodulin for activity. It has an apparent K0.5 for calmodulin of 10(-9) M and binds 1 mol of calmodulin/mol of myosin kinase in the presence of calcium. The binding of calmodulin increases the sedimentation coefficient from 4.45 S to 5.05 S, and the Stokes radius from 75 A to 79 A, and does not alter the frictional coefficient. The enzyme has a Km for ATP and the 20,000-dalton light chain of smooth muscle myosin of 50 microM and 5 microM, respectively. It phosphorylates the 20,000-dalton light chain of smooth muscle myosin more rapidly than the equivalent light chain from cardiac and skeletal muscles. It does not phosphorylate histones, alpha-casein, phosphorylase kinase, or phosphorylase b at a significant rate.
Myosins and myosin light chain kinases have been isolated from a cloned line of myoblasts (L5/A10) as this cell line undergoes differentiation toward adult muscle. At least three myosin isozymes were obtained during this developmental process. Initially a nonmuscle type of myosin was found in the myoblasts. The molecular weights of the myoblast light chains were 20 000 and 15 000. Myosin isolated from early myotubes had light chains with molecular weights of 20 000 and 19 500. Myosin isolated from myotubes which contained sarcomeres had light chains with molecular weights of 23 000, 18 500, and 16 000. This last myosin was similar in light chain complement to adult rat thigh muscle. Two forms of the myosin light chain kinase activity were detected: a calcium-independent kinase in the myoblasts and a calcium-dependent kinase in the myotubes with sarcomeres. No myosin light chain kinase activity was detected in the early myotubes.
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Smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase, a calmodulin-dependent enzyme, binds 1 mol of calmodulin/mol of kinase in the presence of calcium (Adelstein, R. S., and Klee, C. B. (1981) J. Biol. Chem. 256, in press. This enzyme is a substrate for cAMP-dependent protein kinase whether or not calmodulin is bound. When calmodulin is not bound to myosin kinase, protein kinase incorporates phosphate into two sites in myosin kinase. Under these circumstances, phosphorylation markedly lowers the rate of myosin kinase activity. The decrease in myosin kinase activity is due to a 10-20-fold increase in the amount of calmodulin necessary for 50% activation of kinase activity. The effect of phosphorylation on the activity of myosin kinase can be reversed by dephosphorylation using a purified phosphatase (Pato, M. D., and Adelstein, R. S. (1980) J. Biol. Chem. 255, 6535-6538) isolated from smooth muscle. When calmodulin is bound to myosin kinase, phosphate is incorporated into a single site with no effect on myosin kinase activity. The presence of at least two sites that can be phosphorylated in myosin kinase was confirmed by tryptic digestion of denatured myosin kinase.
Antibodies to myosin light chain kinase, purified from turkey gizzard smooth muscle, were developed in rabbits and purified by affinity chromatography on a myosin light chain kinase-Sepharose 4B column. The purified antibodies crossreact with purified smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase but not with a variety of contractile or cytoskeletal proteins. The antibodies inhibit the catalytic activity of smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase and there is an inverse relationship between the kinase activity and the amount of antibody present in an assay. Half-maximal inhibition of myosin kinase activity occurs at an antibody/myosin kinase molar ratio of 10:1. The affinity-purified antibodies to smooth muscle myosin kinase were used to study the location of myosin kinase in a variety of nonmuscle cells. Immunofluorescence studies indicate that myosin light chain kinase is localized on microfilament bundles (stress fibers) in cultured fibroblasts. The stress fiber staining pattern is abolished when the antibodies are incubated with purified smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase prior to staining cells, while the staining pattern is unaffected when the antibodies are incubated with actin, myosin, alpha-actinin, or tropomyosin prior to staining. Moreover, the stress fiber staining pattern is periodic in well-spread gerbil fibroma cells and experiments have demonstrated that myosin light chain kinase appears to have the same periodic distribution as myosin but an antiperiodic distribution relative to alpha-actinin. These data indicate that myosin light chain kinase and its substrate, myosin, are in close proximity and are consistent with the hypothesis that myosin light chain kinase regulates actin-myosin interactions in nonmuscle cells.
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1) Myosin light chain kinases from smooth muscle and platelets can be phosphorylated by the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. 2) Phosphorylation of both kinases, in the absence of calmodulin, markedly decreases kinase activity. 3) The decrease in smooth muscle myosin kinase activity is due to a decreased affinity of the phosphorylated kinase for calmodulin. 4) Dephosphorylation of the smooth muscle kinase by a phosphatase isolated from smooth muscle restores the affinity of the kinase for calmodulin.
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Smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase, purified to homogeneity, has a molecular weight of 130,000 +/- 5,000 in sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The purified enzyme has a specific activity under maximal conditions of 30 mumol Pi transferred to myosin light chain/mg kinase/min at 24 C and is totally dependent on calmodulin and calcium for activity. Incubation of myosin kinase with the catalytic subunit of cyclic adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate-dependent protein kinase results in the covalent incorporation of up to one mol of phosphate per mol of myosin kinase in the absence of bound calmodulin. Limited tryptic digestion of the radioactively labeled kinase indicates that all of the label has been incorporated into a single tryptic peptide (mol wt approximately 22,000), suggesting that a single site is being phosphorylated. Phosphorylation of myosin kinase lowers the rate at which the kinase phosphorylates myosin light chain. The lower rate of light chain phosphorylation is due to a weaker binding of calmodulin to the phosphorylated kinase than to the unphosphorylated kinase. Cyclic adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate-dependent phosphorylation of the kinase actin-myosin interaction represents a possible link between hormonal binding to smooth muscle receptors and muscle relaxation. A scheme for this sequence of events is presented.