scholarly journals Regulatory Light Chain Mutants Linked to Heart Disease Modify the Cardiac Myosin Lever Arm

Biochemistry ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 1249-1259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Burghardt ◽  
Laura A. Sikkink
Author(s):  
Peter O Awinda ◽  
Marissa Watanabe ◽  
Yemeserach M. Bishaw ◽  
Anna M Huckabee ◽  
Keinan B Agonias ◽  
...  

Morbidity and mortality associated with heart disease is a growing threat to the global population and novel therapies are needed. Mavacamten (formerly called MYK-461) is a small molecule that binds to cardiac myosin and inhibits myosin ATPase. Mavacamten is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and it may provide benefits for treating other forms of heart disease. We investigated the effect of mavacamten on cardiac muscle contraction in two transgenic mouse lines expressing the human isoform of cardiac myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) in their hearts. Control mice expressed wild-type RLC (WT-RLC), and HCM mice expressed the N47K RLC mutation. In the absence of mavacamten, skinned papillary muscle strips from WT-RLC mice produced greater isometric force than strips from N47K mice. Adding 0.3 µM mavacamten decreased maximal isometric force and reduced Ca2+-sensitivity of contraction for both genotypes, but this reduction in pCa50 was nearly twice as large for WT-RLC vs. N47K. We also used stochastic length-perturbation analysis to characterize cross-bridge kinetics. The cross-bridge detachment rate was measured as a function of [MgATP] to determine the effect of mavacamten on myosin nucleotide handling rates. Mavacamten increased the MgADP release and MgATP binding rates for both genotypes, thereby contributing to faster cross-bridge detachment, which could speed myocardial relaxation during diastole. Our data suggest that mavacamten reduces isometric tension and Ca2+-sensitivity of contraction via decreased strong cross-bridge binding. Mavacamten may become a useful therapy for patients with heart disease, including some forms of HCM.


2007 ◽  
Vol 93 (6) ◽  
pp. 2226-2239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Burghardt ◽  
Katalin Ajtai ◽  
Daniel K. Chan ◽  
Miriam F. Halstead ◽  
Jinhui Li ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 111a
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Kazmierczak ◽  
Priya Muthu ◽  
Wenrui Huang ◽  
Ana Rojas ◽  
Michelle Jones ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason J. Breithaupt ◽  
Hannah C. Pulcastro ◽  
Peter O. Awinda ◽  
David C. DeWitt ◽  
Bertrand C.W. Tanner

Force production by actin–myosin cross-bridges in cardiac muscle is regulated by thin-filament proteins and sarcomere length (SL) throughout the heartbeat. Prior work has shown that myosin regulatory light chain (RLC), which binds to the neck of myosin heavy chain, increases cardiac contractility when phosphorylated. We recently showed that cross-bridge kinetics slow with increasing SLs, and that RLC phosphorylation amplifies this effect, using skinned rat myocardial strips predominantly composed of the faster α-cardiac myosin heavy chain isoform. In the present study, to assess how RLC phosphorylation influences length-dependent myosin function as myosin motor speed varies, we used a propylthiouracil (PTU) diet to induce >95% expression of the slower β-myosin heavy chain isoform in rat cardiac ventricles. We measured the effect of RLC phosphorylation on Ca2+-activated isometric contraction and myosin cross-bridge kinetics (via stochastic length perturbation analysis) in skinned rat papillary muscle strips at 1.9- and 2.2-µm SL. Maximum tension and Ca2+ sensitivity increased with SL, and RLC phosphorylation augmented this response at 2.2-µm SL. Subtle increases in viscoelastic myocardial stiffness occurred with RLC phosphorylation at 2.2-µm SL, but not at 1.9-µm SL, thereby suggesting that RLC phosphorylation increases β-myosin heavy chain binding or stiffness at longer SLs. The cross-bridge detachment rate slowed as SL increased, providing a potential mechanism for prolonged cross-bridge attachment to augment length-dependent activation of contraction at longer SLs. Length-dependent slowing of β-myosin heavy chain detachment rate was not affected by RLC phosphorylation. Together with our previous studies, these data suggest that both α- and β-myosin heavy chain isoforms show a length-dependent activation response and prolonged myosin attachment as SL increases in rat myocardial strips, and that RLC phosphorylation augments length-dependent activation at longer SLs. In comparing cardiac isoforms, however, we found that β-myosin heavy chain consistently showed greater length-dependent sensitivity than α-myosin heavy chain. Our work suggests that RLC phosphorylation is a vital contributor to the regulation of myocardial contractility in both cardiac myosin heavy chain isoforms.


2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanhong Li ◽  
Gang Wu ◽  
Qizhu Tang ◽  
Congxin Huang ◽  
Hong Jiang ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 425a
Author(s):  
David Rasicci ◽  
Orville Kirkland ◽  
Wanjian Tang ◽  
Rohini Desetty ◽  
Christopher M. Yengo

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