Substructure of the myosin molecule. IV. Interactions of myosin and its subfragments with adenosine triphosphate and F-actin

Effect of trypsin on rabbit skeletal muscle alpha-actinin

5 min of tryptic digestion of purified rabbit skeletal alpha-actinin decreases by approximately 75% the ability of alpha-actinin to cross-link F-actin filaments as measured viscometrically at 27 degrees C, but has little effect on the sedimentation coefficient of alpha actinin at 20 degrees C or an alpha-actinin's ability to increase the Mg2+-modified ATPase activity and rate of turbidity increase of reconstituted actomyosin suspensions. Twenty to sixty min of trypsin treatment reduces the sedimentation coefficient of alpha-actinin and destroys much of alpha-actinin's ability to increase the MG2+-modified ATPase and rate of turbidity increase of reconstituted actomyosin suspensions. Therefore, the ability of alpha-actinin to increase the rate of in vitro measures of muscle contraction may not result directly from alpha-actinin's ability to cross-link F-actin filaments. Trypsin does not split alpha-actinin into large fragments as it does myosin. Previous studies have shown that 35 to 65% of total tryptic-susceptible peptide bonds in alpha-actinin are split after 60 min of incubation with trypsin and that 30% of these bonds split in 60 min are cleaved during the first 5 min in a rapid reaction. That splitting of this group of peptide bonds has little effect on the sedimentation coefficient of alpha-actinin indicates that these bonds are located in a region of the alpha-actinin molecule where noncovalent forces are strong enough to maintain conformation of the native alpha-actinin molecule even after these bonds have been split. This ostensible segregation of alpha-actinin's ability to cross-link F-actin filaments from its ability to increase rate of in vitro assays of contraction by tryptic digestion may suggest that alpha-actinin could have at least two different physiological roles: (1) to bind actin filaments to each other or to basal structures, and (2) to enhance the effectiveness of actin in supporting movement.

Myosin-paramyosin cofilaments: enzymatic interactions with F-actin

The interaction between paramyosin and myosin has been studied by enzymological methods. Clam adductor paramyosin inhibits the actin-activated, Mg2+-requiring ATPase of both clam adductor and rabbit skeletal muscle myosins. Myosin and paramyosin must be rapidly coprecipitated for this inhibition. Incubation with F-actin in the absence of ATP does not alter this effect. This inhibition follows a hyperbolic function with respect to paramyosin concentration. Slow precipitation by dialysis of myosin and paramyosin together leads to copolymers with actin-activated ATPase equivalent to that of slowly formed myosin filaments. Both kinds of slowly formed filaments have enzymatic properties distinct from those of the rapidly precipitated proteins. Paramyosin is competitive with F-actin for their effects upon myosin. The apparent affinity of myosin for F-actin is markedly reduced by association with paramyosin, but the extrapolated maximal velocity of actomyosin is unaffected. The specificity of this inhibition is strongly suggested by marked quantitative differences between native and cleaved paramyosins. No inhibition of intrinsic myosin ATPase by paramyosin is seen. These studies suggest that at least two types of condition-dependent association between myosin and paramyosin are possible. One class of interactions is associated with enzymic inhibition in rapidly coprecipitated filaments, whereas slowly formed cofilaments exhibit catalytic activity similar to that of identically treat-d myosin and have a characteristic 14.5 nm axial repeat.

Steady-state studies of the actin-activated adenosine triphosphatase activity of myosin

Reconstituted actomyosin (ATP phosphohydrolase, EC 3.6.1.3) (0.400 mg F-actin/mg myosin) in 10.0 muM ATP loses 96% of its specific ATPase activity when its reaction concentration is decreased from 42.0 mug/ml down to 0.700 mug/ml. The loss of specific activity at the very low enzyme concentrations is prevented by the addition of more F-actin to 17.6 mug/ml. It is concluded that at low actomyosin concentrations the complex dissociates into free myosin with a very low specific ATPase activity and free F-actin with no ATPase. The dissociation of the essential low molecular weight subunits of myosin from the heavy chains at very low actomyosin concentrations may be a contributing factor. Actomyosin has its maximum specific activity at pH 7.8-8.2. The Km for ATP is 9.4 muM, which is at least 20-fold greater than myosin's Km for ATP. The actin-activated ATPase of myosin follows hyperbolic kinetics with varying F-actin concentrations. The Km values for F-actin are 0.110 muM (4.95 mug/ml) at pH 7.4 and 0.241 muM (10.8 mug/ml) at pH 7.8. The actin-activated maximum turnover numbers for myosin are 9.3 s-1 at pH 7.4 and 11.6 s-1 at pH 7.8. The actomyosin ATPase is inhibited by KCl. This KCl inhibition is not competitive with respect to F-actin, and it is not a simple form of non-competitive inhibition.

The interaction of actin monomers with myosin heads and other muscle proteins

The simplest interacting unit of actomyosin, viz., single myosin heads (subfragment 1) with actin monomers, has been studied at physiological ionic strength, by isolating the actin molecules from each other on a solid support. The interaction is characterized by a binding constant of 10(5) to 10(6) M-1 in the temperature range 4-30degrees C. It is endothermic with a standard enthalpy of 24 +/- 10 kcal mol-1, and a standard entropy of 110 +/- 40 eu. It is thus, like many protein-protein association processes, entropy-driven. Despite the high affinity of the association, which is comparable in its binding constant to that of subfragment 1 with F-actin, there is only very small activation of myosin ATPase. The ionic-strength dependence of the interaction shows unusual features. Binding of the proteins of the relaxing system to the monomeric actin was also examined: troponin binds both in the presence and absence of calcium ions, but neither tropomyosin nor the tropomyosin-troponin complex was found to bind significantly. Monomeric actin has also been examined as a function of ionic strength by spectroscopic methods; it appears that conformational differences between the G and the F state are the consequence of polymerization, and not of the change in ionic strength required to being the conversion about.

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.

The covalent modification of myosin's proteolytic fragments by a purine disulfide analog of adenosine triphosphate. Reaction at a binding site other than the active site

A purine disulfide analog of ATP, 6,6'-dithiobis(inosinyl imidodiphosphate), forms mixed disulfide bonds between the 6 thiol group on the purine ring and certain key cysteines on myosin, heavy meromyosin, and subfragment one. The EDTA ATPase activities of myosin and heavy meromyosin were completely inactivated when 4 mol of thiopurine nucleotide was bound. When similarly inactivated, subfragment one, depending on its method of preparation, incorporated either 1 or 2 mol of thiopurine nucleotide. Modification of a single cysteine on subfragment one resulted in an inhibition of both the Ca2+ and the EDTA ATPase activities, but the latter always to a greater extent. Modification of two cysteines per head of heavy meromyosin had the same effect suggesting that the active sites were not blocked by the thiopurine nucleotides. Direct evidence for this suggestion was provided by equilibrium dialysis experiments. Heavy meromyosin and subfragment one bound 1.9 and 0.8 mol of [8-3H]adenylyl imidodiphosphate per mol of enzyme, respectively, with an average dissociation constant of 5 X 10(-7) M. Heavy meromyosin with four thiopurine nucleotides bound or subfragment one with two thiopurine nucleotides bound retained 65-80% of these tight adenylyl imidodiphosphate binding sites confirming the above suggestion. Thus previous work assuming reaction of thiopurine nucleotide analogs at the active site of myosin must be reevaluated. Ultracentrifugation studies showed that heavy meromyosin which had incorporated four thiopurine nucleotides did not bind to F-actin while subfragment one with one thiopurine nucleotide bound interacted only very weakly with F-actin. Thus reaction of 6,6'-dithiobis(inosinyl imidodiphosphate) at nucleotide binding sites other than the active sites reduces the rate of ATP hydrolysis and inhibits actin binding. It is suggested that these second sites may function as regulatory sites on myosin.

Changes in the state of actin during superprecipitation of actomyosin

Exchangeability of actin-bound ADP and calcium in actomyosin at low ionic strength has been studied using F-actin labelled with [14C]ADP or 45Ca and measuring release of radioactivity into solution. Low-speed centrifugation, ultracentrifugation and ultrafiltration were used to separate protein from the medium. Comparison of the results obtained with these three separation procedures has revealed that the release of [14C]ADP and 45Ca into the medium in the presence of millimolar concentrations of MgATP is largely due to the release under these conditions of actin itself retaining its bound ADP and calcium. The real exchange of the bound nucleotide and calcium, even under the most favourable conditions, was in our experiments limited to about 20%. Detailed examination of the dependence of both the release of actin and the exchange of actin-bound ADP and calcium on the free divalent cations present, the kind and concentration of the added nucleotide, and temperature of incubation indicates that there is no correlation between the exchange and superprecipitation of actomyosin. The results presented support the view that the limited enhancement by myosin of the exchange of nucleotide and cation bound to actin under certain conditions results from accidental disruption of bonds between actin monomers due to a mechanical stress exerted on actin filaments upon their interaction with myosin filaments.

Segmental flexibility in the myosin molecule: evidence from binding studies of myosin fragments with actin

From comparative studies of the association with polymeric actin of the bifunctional species heavy meromyosin and its monofunctional constituents, information about the relative freedom of these paired elements can be derived. An isotherm for the former binding process is presented which involves, as an experimentally determinable parameter, the local concentration of second segment after the first of a pair is attached to the lattice. From combined data for these two association reactions a value of 10(-4) M is obtained for this quantity. The large degree of segmental flexibility reported for the free heavy meromyosin is still manifested in the association with actin.

The binding of Mn2+ and ADP to myosin

The metal ion requirement of myosin-ADP binding was investigated by use of Mn2+. Mn2+ binds to two sets of noninteracting sites on myosin which are characterized by affinity constants of 10(6) and 10(3), M(-1) at 0.016 M KCl concentration. The maximum number of sites is 2 for the high affinity and 20-25 for the low affinity set. Binding of Mn2+ to the high affinity sites increases the affinity of ADP binding to myosin. F-actin inhibits ADP binding (Kiely, B., and Martonosi, A., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 172: 158-170 [1969]), but even at F-actin concentrations much higher than that required to saturate the actin binding sites of myosin or its proteolytic fragments, significant ADP binding remained. The actin insensitive portion of ADP binding was inhibited by 10(-4) M inorganic pyrophosphate or ATP. The results are discussed on the basis of a model in which actin and ADP bind to myosin at distinct but interacting sites.

Interaction of myosin and paramyosin

The interaction of myosin and paramyosin was investigated by enzymological and ultrastructural techniques. The actin-activated Mg+2 ATPase of rabbit skeletal muscle myosin can be inhibited by clam adductor paramyosin. Both proteins must be rapidly coprecipitated to form filaments for this inhibition. Slowly formed cofilaments are fully activatable by F-actin. In both cases, the cofilaments possess unique structural characteristics when compared to homofilaments. The mode of inhibition appears to be competitive when different concentrations of paramyosin and F-actin are compared. The apparent affinity of the myosin heads for actin is reduced by the presence of paramyosin within rapidly reconstituted thick filaments. These results suggest that paramyosin may serve as part of a relaxing mechanism within invertebrate muscles. It is unlikely that paramyosin plays a role in the initiation and maintenance of catch within specialized molluscan muscles.

Regulatory properties of myocardial myosin

The ATPase activity of purified myocardial myosin was activated by either K(+) or Ca(++); the addition of one in the presence of the other caused inhibition. According to Hill-plot analyses the K(+)-saturation curves were sigmoidal (n = 2.92), while the Ca(++)-saturation curves were hyperbolic (n = 1.25). Ca(++)-saturation curves in the presence of K(+) were inhibitory with sigmoidicity (n = 4.11), while K(+)-saturation curves in the presence of Ca(++) followed the Michaelis-Menten inhibition kinetics (n = 1.11). Substrate saturation curves were hyperbolic for both Ca(++) and K(+) systems. There was no enzymatic activity when Na(+) was used as the activating metal; furthermore, Na(+) inhibited in the presence of either K(+) or Ca(++). Both Na(+) curves of inhibition followed the Michaelis-Menten relationship.