Molecular and antigenic properties of cytochrome b5 from slow-muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum

NADH--cytochrome b5 reductase and cytochrome b5 associated with slow-muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum and liver microsomal fraction were identified with discrete protein bands of molecular weights 33000 and 16700 by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. Purified detergent-extracted cytochrome b5 from muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum is indistinguishable from liver microsomal cytochrome b5 with respect to spectral properties, pI values and immunological reactivity with antibody to the liver cytochrome b5. Reaction of the antibody with membrane-bound cytochrome b5 inhibits the sarcoplasmic-reticulum NADH--cytochrome c reductase activity.

Polymorphism of sarcoplasmic-reticulum adenosine triphosphatase of rabbit skeletal muscle

Antibody was raised in chickens against purified sarcoplasmic-reticulum Ca2+-activated ATPase (Ca2+-ATPase). The immunological relationship between the Ca2+-ATPase of fast-muscle and slow-muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum was investigated by a one-step and a two-step competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results show marked antigenic differences between the membrane-bound Ca2+-ATPase of the sarcoplasmic-reticulum vesicles from fast muscle and slow muscle, beside differences in the membrane content of ATPase protein.

Evidence for the presence of the stearyl-CoA desaturase system in the sarcoplasmic reticulum of rabbit slow muscle

We have shown that the isolated sarcoplasmic reticulum from rabbit slow muscle contains cytochrome b5 which can be reduced via a flavoprotein, with FAD as the prosthetic group. In the presence of NADH and oxygen, these sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes can convert stearyl-CoA to oleyl-CoA, similarly to liver endoplasmic reticulum membranes. However, the stearyl-CoA desaturase system is virtually lacking in fast muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum. The data suggest that these differences between fast and slow twitch muscle may be related to the characteristic fatty acid composition of phospholipids and the function of the sarcoplasmic reticulum.