scholarly journals Effects of phosphorylation by myosin light chain kinase on the structure of Limulus thick filaments.

1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
R J Levine ◽  
P D Chantler ◽  
R W Kensler ◽  
J L Woodhead
Keyword(s):  
Light Chain ◽  
Myosin Light Chain Kinase ◽  
Myosin Light Chain ◽  
Preceding Paper ◽  
Thick Filament ◽  
Light Chains ◽  
Helical Surface ◽  
Regulatory Light Chains ◽  
Thick Filaments ◽  
Cell Biol

The results discussed in the preceding paper (Levine, R. J. C., J. L. Woodhead, and H. A. King. 1991. J. Cell Biol. 113:563-572.) indicate that A-band shortening in Limulus muscle is a thick filament response to activation that occurs largely by fragmentation of filament ends. To assess the effect of biochemical changes directly associated with activation on the length and structure of thick filaments from Limulus telson muscle, a dually regulated tissue (Lehman, W., J. Kendrick-Jones, and A. G. Szent Gyorgyi. 1973. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 37:319-330.) we have examined the thick filament response to phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chains. In agreement with the previous work of J. Sellers (1981. J. Biol. Chem. 256:9274-9278), Limulus myosin, incubated with partially purified chicken gizzard myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) and [gamma 32P]-ATP, binds 2 mol phosphate/mole protein. On autoradiographs of SDS-PAGE, the label is restricted to the two regulatory light chains, LC1 and LC2. Incubation of long (greater than or equal to 4.0 microns) thick filaments, separated from Limulus telson muscle under relaxing conditions, with either intact MLCK in the presence of Ca2+ and calmodulin, or Ca2(+)-independent MLCK obtained by brief chymotryptic digestion (Walsh, M. P., R. Dabrowska, S. Hinkins, and D. J. Hartshorne. 1982. Biochemistry. 21:1919-1925), causes significant changes in their structure. These include: disordering of the helical surface arrangement of myosin heads as they move away from the filament backbone; the presence of distal bends and breaks, with loss of some surface myosin molecules, in each polar filament half; and the production of shorter filaments and end-fragments. The latter structures are similar to those produced by Ca2(+)-activation of skinned fibers (Levine, R. J. C., J. L. Woodhead, and H. A. King. J. Cell Biol. 113:563-572). Rinsing experimental filament preparations with relaxing solution before staining restores some degree of order of the helical surface array, but not filament length. We propose that outward movement of myosin heads and thick filament shortening in Limulus muscle are responses to activation that are dependent on phosphorylation of regulatory myosin light chains. Filament shortening may be due, in large part, to breakage at the filament ends.

Calcium-dependent mechanisms of regulation of smooth muscle contraction

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (12) ◽  
pp. 771-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Muscle Contraction ◽  
Light Chain ◽  
Myosin Light Chain Kinase ◽  
Myosin Light Chain ◽  
Binding Protein ◽  
Smooth Muscle Contraction ◽  
Light Chains ◽  
Contractile State ◽  
Calmodulin Binding

The contractile state of smooth muscle is regulated primarily by the sarcoplasmic (cytosolic) free Ca2+ concentration. A variety of stimuli that induce smooth muscle contraction (e.g., membrane depolarization, α-adrenergic and muscarinic agonists) trigger an increase in sarcoplasmic free [Ca2+] from resting levels of 120–270 to 500–700 nM. At the elevated [Ca2+], Ca2+ binds to calmodulin, the ubiquitous and multifunctional Ca2+-binding protein. The interaction of Ca2+ with CaM induces a conformational change in the Ca2+-binding protein with exposure of a site(s) of interaction with target proteins, the most important of which in the context of smooth muscle contraction is the enzyme myosin light chain kinase. The interaction of calmodulin with myosin light chain kinase results in activation of the kinase that catalyzes phosphorylation of myosin at serine-19 of each of the two 20-kDa light chains (native myosin is a hexamer composed of two heavy chains (230 kDa each) and two pairs of light chains (one pair of 20 kDa each and the other pair of 17 kDa each)). This simple phosphorylation reaction triggers cycling of myosin cross-bridges along actin filaments and the development of force. Relaxation of the muscle follows removal of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasm, whereupon calmodulin dissociates from myosin light chain kinase regenerating the inactive kinase; myosin is dephosphorylated by myosin light chain phosphatase(s), whereupon it dissociates and remains detached from the actin filament and the muscle relaxes. A substantial body of evidence has been accumulated in support of this central role of myosin phosphorylation–dephosphorylation in the regulation of smooth muscle contraction. However, a wide range of physiological and biochemical studies supports the existence of additional, secondary Ca2+-dependent mechanisms that can modulate or fine-tune the contractile state of the smooth muscle cell. Three such mechanisms have emerged: (i) the actin-, tropomyosin-, and calmodulin-binding protein, calponin; (ii) the actin-, myosin-, tropomyosin-, and calmodulin-binding protein, caldesmon; and (iii) the Ca2+- and phospholipid-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase C).Key words: smooth muscle, Ca2+, myosin phosphorylation, regulation of contraction.

scholarly journals Myosin light chain kinase-regulated endothelial cell contraction: the relationship between isometric tension, actin polymerization, and myosin phosphorylation.

1995 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z M Goeckeler ◽  
R B Wysolmerski
Keyword(s):  
Endothelial Cell ◽  
Light Chain ◽  
Isometric Contraction ◽  
Myosin Light Chain Kinase ◽  
Myosin Light Chain ◽  
Myosin Ii ◽  
Isometric Tension ◽  
Stress Fibers ◽  
Light Chains ◽  
Myosin Light Chains

The phosphorylation of regulatory myosin light chains by the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent enzyme myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) has been shown to be essential and sufficient for initiation of endothelial cell retraction in saponin permeabilized monolayers (Wysolmerski, R. B. and D. Lagunoff. 1990. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 87:16-20). We now report the effects of thrombin stimulation on human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVE) actin, myosin II and the functional correlate of the activated actomyosin based contractile system, isometric tension development. Using a newly designed isometric tension apparatus, we recorded quantitative changes in isometric tension from paired monolayers. Thrombin stimulation results in a rapid sustained isometric contraction that increases 2- to 2.5-fold within 5 min and remains elevated for at least 60 min. The phosphorylatable myosin light chains from HUVE were found to exist as two isoforms, differing in their molecular weights and isoelectric points. Resting isometric tension is associated with a basal phosphorylation of 0.54 mol PO4/mol myosin light chain. After thrombin treatment, phosphorylation rapidly increases to 1.61 mol PO4/mol myosin light chain within 60 s and remains elevated for the duration of the experiment. Myosin light chain phosphorylation precedes the development of isometric tension and maximal phosphorylation is maintained during the sustained phase of isometric contraction. Tryptic phosphopeptide maps from both control and thrombin-stimulated cultures resolve both monophosphorylated Ser-19 and diphosphorylated Ser-19/Thr-18 peptides indicative of MLCK activation. Changes in the polymerization of actin and association of myosin II correlate temporally with the phosphorylation of myosin II and development of isometric tension. Activation results in a 57% increase in F-actin content within 90 s and 90% of the soluble myosin II associates with the reorganizing F-actin. Furthermore, the disposition of actin and myosin II undergoes striking reorganization. F-actin initially forms a fine network of filaments that fills the cytoplasm and then reorganizes into prominent stress fibers. Myosin II rapidly forms discrete aggregates associated with the actin network and by 2.5 min assumes a distinct periodic distribution along the stress fibers.

scholarly journals Association of myosin light chain kinase with lymphocyte membrane-cytoskeleton complex.

1982 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 793-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Y Bourguignon ◽  
M L Nagpal ◽  
K Balazovich ◽  
V Guerriero ◽  
A R Means
Keyword(s):  
Light Chain ◽  
Myosin Light Chain Kinase ◽  
Myosin Light Chain ◽  
Light Chains ◽  
Double Immunofluorescence ◽  
Major Fraction ◽  
Con A ◽  
Surface Receptors ◽  
Calmodulin Binding ◽  
Membrane Cytoskeleton

A specific antibody against myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) was used to identify the presence of a Ca2+-calmodulin-activated MLCK in mouse 1-lymphoma cells. With a double immunofluorescence technique, MLCK was determined to be accumulated directly under Con A-capped structures in a manner similar to that of previously described accumulation of actomyosin. The lymphocyte MLCK was phosphorylated in the uncapped cell and, by immunoprecipitation with a specific MLCK antibody, was shown to possess a Mr of 130,000. The MLCK was also found to constitute a major fraction of the phosphoproteins present in the plasma membrane associated-cytoskeleton. Myosin light chain kinase catalyzed the phosphorylation of both endogenous lymphocyte myosin light chains and those from smooth and skeletal muscle. The enzyme activity was dependent on the presence of Ca2+-calmodulin and was inhibited by the calmodulin-binding drug, trifluoperazine. These data suggest that the membrane-cytoskeleton-associated MLCK activity may be important in regulation of the actinmyosin contraction which is believed to be required for the collection of surface receptors into capped structures.

scholarly journals Structural changes accompanying phosphorylation of tarantula muscle myosin filaments.

1987 ◽  
Vol 105 (3) ◽  
pp. 1319-1327 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Craig ◽  
R Padrón ◽  
J Kendrick-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Myosin Light Chain Kinase ◽  
Myosin Light Chain ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Striated Muscle ◽  
Light Chains ◽  
Regulatory Light Chains ◽  
Myosin Filaments ◽  
Muscle Myosin ◽  
Light Chains Of Myosin

Electron microscopy has been used to study the structural changes that occur in the myosin filaments of tarantula striated muscle when they are phosphorylated. Myosin filaments in muscle homogenates maintained in relaxing conditions (ATP, EGTA) are found to have nonphosphorylated regulatory light chains as shown by urea/glycerol gel electrophoresis and [32P]phosphate autoradiography. Negative staining reveals an ordered, helical arrangement of crossbridges in these filaments, in which the heads from axially neighboring myosin molecules appear to interact with each other. When the free Ca2+ concentration in a homogenate is raised to 10(-4) M, or when a Ca2+-insensitive myosin light chain kinase is added at low Ca2+ (10(-8) M), the regulatory light chains of myosin become rapidly phosphorylated. Phosphorylation is accompanied by potentiation of the actin activation of the myosin Mg-ATPase activity and by loss of order of the helical crossbridge arrangement characteristic of the relaxed filament. We suggest that in the relaxed state, when the regulatory light chains are not phosphorylated, the myosin heads are held down on the filament backbone by head-head interactions or by interactions of the heads with the filament backbone. Phosphorylation of the light chains may alter these interactions so that the crossbridges become more loosely associated with the filament backbone giving rise to the observed changes and facilitating crossbridge interaction with actin.

Smooth muscle phosphatases: structure, regulation, and function

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (11) ◽  
pp. 1427-1433 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. Pato ◽  
A. G. Tulloch ◽  
M. P. Walsh ◽  
E. Kerc
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Light Chain ◽  
Myosin Light Chain Kinase ◽  
Myosin Light Chain ◽  
Protein Phosphatases ◽  
Smooth Muscles ◽  
Light Chains ◽  
Myosin Light Chains ◽  
Heavy Meromyosin ◽  
Smooth Muscle Contractility

Smooth muscle contraction is regulated primarily by the reversible phosphorylation of myosin by myosin light chain kinase. Secondary mechanisms that might modulate contractility are phosphorylation–dephosphorylation of myosin light chain kinase and thin-filament proteins, caldesmon and calponin. Purification of several protein phosphatases that are active toward myosin light chains and (or) myosin and heavy meromyosin from smooth muscles has been reported. All the cytosolic turkey gizzard smooth muscle phosphatases, termed SMP-I, -II, -III, and -IV, dephosphorylate myosin light chains rapidly, but only SMP-III and -IV are active toward myosin and heavy meromyosin, suggesting that SMP-III and -IV might be directly involved in the relaxation of smooth muscle. SMP-III and -IV exhibit properties typical of type 1 protein phosphatases following tryptic digestion. These enzymes appear to share structural similarity with myofibrillar phosphatase PP1M. Purified calponin phosphatase and caldesmon phosphatase from chicken gizzards are structurally and immunologically identical with SMP-I, a type 2A protein phosphatase. SMP-I dephosphorylates calponin faster than it does caldesmon, and has much higher activity toward these substrates than SMP-II, -III, and -IV. Thus, one role for SMP-I might be to regulate the activities of caldesmon and calponin. Since SMP-I is active toward myosin light chain kinase, it might also modulate this enzyme.Key words: smooth muscle, contractility, protein phosphatases, smooth muscle phosphatases.

scholarly journals Myosin light chain phosphorylation facilitates in vivo myosin filament reassembly after mechanical perturbation

2002 ◽  
Vol 282 (6) ◽  
pp. C1298-C1305 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Qi ◽  
R. W. Mitchell ◽  
T. Burdyga ◽  
L. E. Ford ◽  
K.-H. Kuo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Light Chain ◽  
Myosin Light Chain ◽  
Isometric Force ◽  
Thick Filament ◽  
Myosin Filament ◽  
Mechanical Perturbation ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Thick Filaments ◽  
Mlc Phosphorylation

Phosphorylation of the 20-kDa regulatory myosin light chain (MLC) of smooth muscle is known to cause monomeric myosins in solution to self-assemble into thick filaments. The role of MLC phosphorylation in thick filament formation in intact muscle, however, is not clear. It is not known whether the phosphorylation is necessary to initiate thick filament assembly in vivo. Here we show, by using a potent inhibitor of MLC kinase (wortmannin), that the MLC phosphorylation and isometric force in trachealis muscle could be abolished without affecting calcium transients. By measuring cross-sectional densities of the thick filaments electron microscopically, we also show that inhibition of MLC phosphorylation alone did not cause disassembly of the filaments. The unphosphorylated thick filaments, however, partially dissolved when the muscle was subjected to oscillatory strains (which caused a 25% decrease in the thick filament density). The postoscillation filament density recovered to the preoscillation level only when wortmannin was removed and the muscle was stimulated. The data suggest that in vivo thick filament reassembly after mechanical perturbation is facilitated by the cyclic MLC phosphorylation associated with repeated stimulation.

scholarly journals Hybrids of Physarum myosin light chains and desensitized scallop myofibrils.

1981 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 408-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
V T Nachmias
Keyword(s):  
Light Chain ◽  
Myosin Light Chain ◽  
Myosin Atpase ◽  
Light Chains ◽  
Myosin Light Chains ◽  
Free Calcium ◽  
Standard Methods ◽  
Regulatory Light Chains ◽  
Skeletal Myosin

The two light chains of Physarum myosin have been purified in a 1:1 ratio with a yield of 0.5-1 mg/100 g of plasmodium and a purity of 40-70%; the major contaminant is a 42,000-dalton protein. The 17,700 Mr Physarum myosin light chain (PhLC1) binds to scallop myofibrils, providing the regulatory light chains (ScRLC) have been removed. The 16,500 Mr light (PhLC2) does not bind to scallop myofibrils. The calcium control of scallop myosin ATPase is lost by the removal of one of the two ScRLC's and restored equally well by the binding of either PhLC1 or rabbit skeletal myosin light chains. When both ScRLC's are removed, replacement by two plasmodial light chains does not restore calcium control as platelet or scallop light chains do. Purified plasmodial actomyosin does not bind calcium in 10(-6) M free calcium, 1 mM MgCl2. No tropomyosin was isolated from Physarum by standard methods. Because the Physarum myosin light chains can substitute only partially for light chains from myosin linked systems, because calcium does not bind to the actomyosin, and because tropomyosin is apparently absent, the regulation of plasmodial actomyosin by micromolar Ca++ may involve other mechanisms, possibly phosphorylation.

scholarly journals Maximal stimulation-induced in situ myosin light chain kinase activity is upregulated in fetal compared with adult ovine carotid arteries

2008 ◽  
Vol 295 (6) ◽  
pp. H2289-H2298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisha R. Injeti ◽  
Renan J. Sandoval ◽  
James M. Williams ◽  
Alexander V. Smolensky ◽  
Lincoln E. Ford ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Light Chain ◽  
Myosin Light Chain Kinase ◽  
Myosin Light Chain ◽  
Vascular Reactivity ◽  
Carotid Arteries ◽  
Thick Filament ◽  
Calcium Sensitivity ◽  
Cytosolic Calcium ◽  
Age Related

Postnatal decreases in vascular reactivity involve decreases in the thick filament component of myofilament calcium sensitivity, which is measured as the relationship between cytosolic calcium concentration and myosin light chain (MLC20) phosphorylation. The present study tests the hypothesis that downregulation of thick filament reactivity is due to downregulation of myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) activity in adult compared with fetal arteries. Total MLCK activity, calculated as %MLC20 phosphorylated per second in intact arteries during optimal inhibition of myosin light chain phosphatase activity, was significantly less in adult (6.56 ± 0.29%) than in fetal preparations (7.39 ± 0.53%). In situ MLC20 concentrations (μM) in adult (198 ± 28) and fetal arteries (236 ± 44) did not differ significantly. In situ MLCK concentrations (μM), however, were significantly greater in adult (8.21 ± 0.59) than in fetal arteries (1.83 ± 0.13). In situ MLCK activities (ng MLC20 phosphorylated·s−1·ng MLCK−1) were significantly less in adult (0.26 ± 0.01) than in fetal arteries (1.52 ± 0.11). In contrast, MLCK activities in adult (15.8 ± 1.5) and fetal artery homogenates (17.3 ± 1.3) were not significantly different. When in situ fractional activation was calculated, adult values (1.72 ± 0.17%) were significantly less than fetal values (9.08 ± 0.83%). Together, these results indicate that decreased thick filament reactivity in adult compared with fetal ovine carotid arteries is due at least in part to greater MLCK activity in fetal arteries, which in turn cannot be explained by differences in MLCK, MLC20, or calmodulin concentrations. Instead, this difference appears to involve age-related differences in fractional activation of the MLCK enzyme.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document