Dinitrophenylation of chicken gizzard myosin: reactivity of the 17 000-dalton light chain.

ABSTRACT

Chicken gizzard myosin rapidly incorporated 3 mol of 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene per 4.7 x 10(5) g of protein with little change in the ATPase (ATP phosphohydrolase, EC 3.6.1.3) activity. During an interval when 2 additional mol of the reagent were bound the K+-ATPase activity in the presence of EDTA was inhibited and the Ca2+-ATPase activity was altered to a lesser extent. Cysteine residues were modified in the dinitrophenylated gizzard myosin. The dinitrophenyl group was located mainly in the active proteolytic fragment, subfragment 1. Dinitrophenylation of the heavy and light chains was observed but major changes in the ATPase activity occurred when the 17 000-dalton light chain and some heavy chains were modified as judged by dissociation experiments in sodium dodecyl sulfate. Thiolysis of the dinitrophenylated gizzard myosin with 2-mercaptoethanol restored the ATPase activity and approx. 2 mol of the dinitrophenyl group were removed. The restoration of the enzymic activity, however, occurred when 1 mol of the label was thiolytically cleaved from cysteine residues of the 17 000-dalton light chain. Substrate Mg-ATP(2-) or MgADP did not protect the ATPase activity of modified gizzard myosin. In the presence of nucleotide there was an increase in the incorporation of the reagent, and a change in its distribution into the light and heavy chains. Calcium had no effect on the dinitrophenylation of this myosin. these results indicate that the reagent, 1-fluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, could detect chemical differences in smooth muscle myosin when compared to the reactivity of other myosins. Thiol groups of the 17 000-light chain (and some heavy chains) are probably located peripheral to the active site region of gizzard myosin and they are involved in maintaining the enzymic activity of this protein.