Cooperative [Ca²+]-dependent regulation of the rate of myosin binding to actin: solution data and the tropomyosin chain model.

The regulation of muscle contraction by calcium involves interactions among actin filaments, myosin-S1, tropomyosin (Tm), and troponin (Tn). We have extended our previous model in which the TmTn regulatory units are treated as a continuous flexible chain, and applied it to transient kinetic data. We have measured the time course of myosin-S1 binding to actin-Tm-Tn filaments in solution at various calcium levels with [actin]/[myosin] ratios of 10 and 0.1, which exhibit modest slowing as [Ca(2+)] is reduced and a lag phase at low calcium. These observations can be explained if myosin binds to actin in two steps, where the first step is rate-limiting and blocked by TmTnI at low calcium, and the second step is fast, reversible, and controlled by the neighboring configuration of coupled tropomyosin-troponin units. The model can describe the calcium dependence of the observed myosin binding reactions and predicts cooperative calcium binding to TnC with competition between actin and Ca-TnC for the binding of TnI. Implications for theories of thin-filament regulation in muscle are discussed.

[Assessment of the mechanical activity of cardiac isomyosins V1 and V3 by an in vitro motility assay with regulated thin filaments].

A series of experiments in an in vitro motility assay with reconstructed thin filaments has been performed to determine the dependence of the velocity of thin filament movement on the concentration of calcium in solution (in the pCa range from 5 to 8) for rabbit cardiac isomyosins V1 and V3. The "pCa-velocity" curves had the sigmoid form. It was found for each isoform that sliding velocities of regulated thin filaments (at the saturating calcium concentration (pCa 5)) and actin filaments did not differ from each other. The Hill coefficient was 1.04 and 0.75 for isomyosins V1 and V3, respectively. The calcium sensitivity of V3 was found to be higher than that of V1. In the framework of the same method, the relationship between the velocity of thin filament sliding and the concentration of the actin-binding protein a-actinin (analog of the "force-velocity" relationship) has been estimated for each isoform V1 and V3 at the saturating calcium concentration. The results obtained suggest that the calcium regulation of the contractile activity of isomyosins V1 and V3 occurs by different mechanisms.

Single-myosin crossbridge interactions with actin filaments regulated by troponin-tropomyosin.

Striated muscle contraction is governed by the thin filament regulatory proteins troponin and tropomyosin. Here, we investigate the molecular mechanisms by which troponin-tropomyosin inhibits myosin's interactions with the thin filament in the absence of calcium by using a laser trap. The displacement events for a single-myosin molecule interacting with a reconstituted thin filament were shorter (step size = 5 nm) and prolonged (69 ms) compared with actin alone (11 nm and 26 ms, respectively). However, these changes alone do not account for the degree of inhibition of thin filament movement observed in an ensemble assay. Our investigations of single- and multiple-myosin molecules with regulated thin filaments suggest the primary basis for this inhibition derives from an approximately 100-fold decrease in the probability of myosin attaching to actin. At higher myosin concentrations, short bursts of motility are observed in a laser trap consistent with the strong binding of a single-myosin crossbridge, resulting in cooperative binding of other cycling crossbridges. We confirmed this cooperativity in the in vitro motility assay by observing thin filament translocation in the absence of calcium but at low [ATP], consistent with rigor activation. We have developed a simple mechanistic model that reproduces and provides insight into both the observed single-myosin molecule and ensemble data in the absence of Ca(2+). These data support the hypothesis that thin filament inhibition in the absence of Ca(2+) is largely achieved by modulating the rate of attachment and/or transition from the weakly to strongly bound state.

An atomic model of the unregulated thin filament obtained by X-ray fiber diffraction on oriented actin-tropomyosin gels.

We present a model of the actin-tropomyosin complex in which the radial and azimuthal position of tropomyosin was adjusted to fit the X-ray fiber diffraction patterns from oriented actin-tropomyosin gels at a resolution of 1/8 A-1. We used the recently published atomic F-actin model for the calculations. The atomic model of tropomyosin was obtained by model-building a coiled coiled-coil structure from the tropomyosin sequence. The resulting atomic model is strongly preferred and shows strong electrostatic interactions between charged side-chains of tropomyosin residues and actin residues in subdomain 3 and subdomain 4. Furthermore, calculations of enthalpies based upon electrostatic interactions indicate that there is a favored rotational position of the tropomyosin core at the calculated azimuthal and radial position given by the X-ray refinement. Rotations of the tropomyosin strand out of this position turn strongly attractive electrostatic interactions into repulsive forces. The resulting binding radius of 39 A and the determined azimuthal position of tropomyosin are in good agreement with electron microscopy reconstructions and neutron diffraction experiments. Furthermore, the calculated position of tropomyosin would still partly block the rigor interaction of myosin cross-bridges with actin, whereas it very likely allows undisturbed binding of the cross-bridges in a weak binding state.