1
|
Irving M. Functional control of myosin motors in the cardiac cycle. Nat Rev Cardiol 2024:10.1038/s41569-024-01063-5. [PMID: 39030271 DOI: 10.1038/s41569-024-01063-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/21/2024]
Abstract
Contraction of the heart is driven by cyclical interactions between myosin and actin filaments powered by ATP hydrolysis. The modular structure of heart muscle and the organ-level synchrony of the heartbeat ensure tight reciprocal coupling between this myosin ATPase cycle and the macroscopic cardiac cycle. The myosin motors respond to the cyclical activation of the actin and myosin filaments to drive the pressure changes that control the inflow and outflow valves of the heart chambers. Opening and closing of the valves in turn switches the myosin motors between roughly isometric and roughly isotonic contraction modes. Peak filament stress in the heart is much smaller than in fully activated skeletal muscle, although the myosin filaments in the two muscle types have the same number of myosin motors. Calculations indicate that only ~5% of the myosin motors in the heart are needed to generate peak systolic pressure, although many more motors are needed to drive ejection. Tight regulation of the number of active motors is essential for the efficient functioning of the healthy heart - this control is commonly disrupted by gene variants associated with inherited heart disease, and its restoration might be a useful end point in the development of novel therapies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Malcolm Irving
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics and BHF Centre for Research Excellence, King's College London, London, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Abstract
Super-relaxation is a state of muscle thick filaments in which ATP turnover by myosin is much slower than that of myosin II in solution. This inhibited state, in equilibrium with a faster (relaxed) state, is ubiquitous and thought to be fundamental to muscle function, acting as a mechanism for switching off energy-consuming myosin motors when they are not being used. The structural basis of super-relaxation is usually taken to be a motif formed by myosin in which the two heads interact with each other and with the proximal tail forming an interacting-heads motif, which switches the heads off. However, recent studies show that even isolated myosin heads can exhibit this slow rate. Here, we review the role of head interactions in creating the super-relaxed state and show how increased numbers of interactions in thick filaments underlie the high levels of super-relaxation found in intact muscle. We suggest how a third, even more inhibited, state of myosin (a hyper-relaxed state) seen in certain species results from additional interactions involving the heads. We speculate on the relationship between animal lifestyle and level of super-relaxation in different species and on the mechanism of formation of the super-relaxed state. We also review how super-relaxed thick filaments are activated and how the super-relaxed state is modulated in healthy and diseased muscles.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Roger Craig
- Division of Cell Biology and Imaging, Department of Radiology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
Stress-dependent activation of myosin in the heart requires thin filament activation and thick filament mechanosensing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2023706118. [PMID: 33850019 PMCID: PMC8072254 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2023706118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The efficiency of the heart as a pump depends on an autoregulatory mechanism, the Frank–Starling law of the heart, that potentiates the strength of contraction in response to an increase in ventricular filling. Disruption of this mechanism compromises the ability of the heart to pump blood, potentially leading to heart failure. We used fluorescent probes on myosin in heart muscle cells to investigate the molecular basis of the Frank–Starling mechanism. Our results show that the stronger contraction of heart muscle at longer lengths is due to a calcium-dependent interfilament signaling pathway that links stress sensing in the myosin-containing filaments with calcium activation of the actin-containing filaments. This pathway can potentially be targeted for treating heart failure. Myosin-based regulation in the heart muscle modulates the number of myosin motors available for interaction with calcium-regulated thin filaments, but the signaling pathways mediating the stronger contraction triggered by stretch between heartbeats or by phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) remain unclear. Here, we used RLC probes in demembranated cardiac trabeculae to investigate the molecular structural basis of these regulatory pathways. We show that in relaxed trabeculae at near-physiological temperature and filament lattice spacing, the RLC-lobe orientations are consistent with a subset of myosin motors being folded onto the filament surface in the interacting-heads motif seen in isolated filaments. The folded conformation of myosin is disrupted by cooling relaxed trabeculae, similar to the effect induced by maximal calcium activation. Stretch or increased RLC phosphorylation in the physiological range have almost no effect on RLC conformation at a calcium concentration corresponding to that between beats. These results indicate that in near-physiological conditions, the folded myosin motors are not directly switched on by RLC phosphorylation or by the titin-based passive tension at longer sarcomere lengths in the absence of thin filament activation. However, at the higher calcium concentrations that activate the thin filaments, stretch produces a delayed activation of folded myosin motors and force increase that is potentiated by RLC phosphorylation. We conclude that the increased contractility of the heart induced by RLC phosphorylation and stretch can be explained by a calcium-dependent interfilament signaling pathway involving both thin filament sensitization and thick filament mechanosensing.
Collapse
|
4
|
Ma W, Duno-Miranda S, Irving T, Craig R, Padrón R. Relaxed tarantula skeletal muscle has two ATP energy-saving mechanisms. J Gen Physiol 2021; 153:e202012780. [PMID: 33480967 PMCID: PMC7822627 DOI: 10.1085/jgp.202012780] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Accepted: 12/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Myosin molecules in the relaxed thick filaments of striated muscle have a helical arrangement in which the heads of each molecule interact with each other, forming the interacting-heads motif (IHM). In relaxed mammalian skeletal muscle, this helical ordering occurs only at temperatures >20°C and is disrupted when temperature is decreased. Recent x-ray diffraction studies of live tarantula skeletal muscle have suggested that the two myosin heads of the IHM (blocked heads [BHs] and free heads [FHs]) have very different roles and dynamics during contraction. Here, we explore temperature-induced changes in the BHs and FHs in relaxed tarantula skeletal muscle. We find a change with decreasing temperature that is similar to that in mammals, while increasing temperature induces a different behavior in the heads. At 22.5°C, the BHs and FHs containing ADP.Pi are fully helically organized, but they become progressively disordered as temperature is lowered or raised. Our interpretation suggests that at low temperature, while the BHs remain ordered the FHs become disordered due to transition of the heads to a straight conformation containing Mg.ATP. Above 27.5°C, the nucleotide remains as ADP.Pi, but while BHs remain ordered, half of the FHs become progressively disordered, released semipermanently at a midway distance to the thin filaments while the remaining FHs are docked as swaying heads. We propose a thermosensing mechanism for tarantula skeletal muscle to explain these changes. Our results suggest that tarantula skeletal muscle thick filaments, in addition to having a superrelaxation-based ATP energy-saving mechanism in the range of 8.5-40°C, also exhibit energy saving at lower temperatures (<22.5°C), similar to the proposed refractory state in mammals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Weikang Ma
- Biophysics Collaborative Access Team, Department of Biological Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
| | - Sebastian Duno-Miranda
- Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
| | - Thomas Irving
- Biophysics Collaborative Access Team, Department of Biological Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
| | - Roger Craig
- Division of Cell Biology and Imaging, Department of Radiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA
| | - Raúl Padrón
- Division of Cell Biology and Imaging, Department of Radiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Padrón R, Ma W, Duno-Miranda S, Koubassova N, Lee KH, Pinto A, Alamo L, Bolaños P, Tsaturyan A, Irving T, Craig R. The myosin interacting-heads motif present in live tarantula muscle explains tetanic and posttetanic phosphorylation mechanisms. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:11865-11874. [PMID: 32444484 PMCID: PMC7275770 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1921312117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Striated muscle contraction involves sliding of actin thin filaments along myosin thick filaments, controlled by calcium through thin filament activation. In relaxed muscle, the two heads of myosin interact with each other on the filament surface to form the interacting-heads motif (IHM). A key question is how both heads are released from the surface to approach actin and produce force. We used time-resolved synchrotron X-ray diffraction to study tarantula muscle before and after tetani. The patterns showed that the IHM is present in live relaxed muscle. Tetanic contraction produced only a very small backbone elongation, implying that mechanosensing-proposed in vertebrate muscle-is not of primary importance in tarantula. Rather, thick filament activation results from increases in myosin phosphorylation that release a fraction of heads to produce force, with the remainder staying in the ordered IHM configuration. After the tetanus, the released heads slowly recover toward the resting, helically ordered state. During this time the released heads remain close to actin and can quickly rebind, enhancing the force produced by posttetanic twitches, structurally explaining posttetanic potentiation. Taken together, these results suggest that, in addition to stretch activation in insects, two other mechanisms for thick filament activation have evolved to disrupt the interactions that establish the relaxed helices of IHMs: one in invertebrates, by either regulatory light-chain phosphorylation (as in arthropods) or Ca2+-binding (in mollusks, lacking phosphorylation), and another in vertebrates, by mechanosensing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Raúl Padrón
- Division of Cell Biology and Imaging, Department of Radiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655;
| | - Weikang Ma
- Biophysics Collaborative Access Team, Department of Biological Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616
| | - Sebastian Duno-Miranda
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas 1020A, Venezuela
| | | | - Kyoung Hwan Lee
- Division of Cell Biology and Imaging, Department of Radiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655
| | - Antonio Pinto
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas 1020A, Venezuela
| | - Lorenzo Alamo
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas 1020A, Venezuela
| | - Pura Bolaños
- Centro de Biofísica y Bioquímica, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas 1020A, Venezuela
| | - Andrey Tsaturyan
- Institute of Mechanics, Moscow State University, 119992 Moscow, Russia
| | - Thomas Irving
- Biophysics Collaborative Access Team, Department of Biological Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616
| | - Roger Craig
- Division of Cell Biology and Imaging, Department of Radiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Anderson RL, Trivedi DV, Sarkar SS, Henze M, Ma W, Gong H, Rogers CS, Gorham JM, Wong FL, Morck MM, Seidman JG, Ruppel KM, Irving TC, Cooke R, Green EM, Spudich JA. Deciphering the super relaxed state of human β-cardiac myosin and the mode of action of mavacamten from myosin molecules to muscle fibers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:E8143-E8152. [PMID: 30104387 PMCID: PMC6126717 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1809540115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 245] [Impact Index Per Article: 40.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Mutations in β-cardiac myosin, the predominant motor protein for human heart contraction, can alter power output and cause cardiomyopathy. However, measurements of the intrinsic force, velocity, and ATPase activity of myosin have not provided a consistent mechanism to link mutations to muscle pathology. An alternative model posits that mutations in myosin affect the stability of a sequestered, super relaxed state (SRX) of the protein with very slow ATP hydrolysis and thereby change the number of myosin heads accessible to actin. Here we show that purified human β-cardiac myosin exists partly in an SRX and may in part correspond to a folded-back conformation of myosin heads observed in muscle fibers around the thick filament backbone. Mutations that cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy destabilize this state, while the small molecule mavacamten promotes it. These findings provide a biochemical and structural link between the genetics and physiology of cardiomyopathy with implications for therapeutic strategies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Darshan V Trivedi
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
- Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Saswata S Sarkar
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
- Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| | | | - Weikang Ma
- BioCAT, Department of Biological Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616
| | - Henry Gong
- BioCAT, Department of Biological Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616
| | | | - Joshua M Gorham
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
| | | | - Makenna M Morck
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| | | | - Kathleen M Ruppel
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
- Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
- Department of Pediatrics (Cardiology), Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Thomas C Irving
- BioCAT, Department of Biological Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL 60616
| | - Roger Cooke
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158
| | | | - James A Spudich
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305;
- Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Iwamoto H. Effects of myosin inhibitors on the X-ray diffraction patterns of relaxed and calcium-activated rabbit skeletal muscle fibers. Biophys Physicobiol 2018; 15:111-120. [PMID: 29892517 PMCID: PMC5992860 DOI: 10.2142/biophysico.15.0_111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2017] [Accepted: 03/26/2018] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
We studied the effect of myosin inhibitors, N-benzyl-p-toluenesulfonamide (BTS), blebbistatin, and butanedione monoxime (BDM) on X-ray diffraction patterns from rabbit psoas fibers under relaxing and contracting conditions. The first two inhibitors suppressed the contractile force almost completely at a 100 μM concentration, and a similar effect was obtained at 50 mM for BDM. However, still substantial changes were observed in the diffraction patterns upon calcium-activation of inhibited muscle fibers. (1) The 2nd actin layer-line reflection was enhanced normally, indicating that calcium binding to troponin and the subsequent movement of tropomyosin are not inhibited, (2) the myosin layer-line reflections became much weaker, and (3) the 1,1/1,0 intensity ratio of the equatorial reflections was increased. The observations (2) and (3) indicate that, even in the presence of the inhibitors at a saturating concentration, myosin heads leave the helix on the thick filaments and approach the thin filaments. Interestingly, the d1,0 spacing of the filament lattice remained unchanged upon activation of inhibited fibers, in contrast to the case of normal activation in which the spacing is decreased. This suggests that the normal activated myosin heads exert a pull in both axial and radial directions, but in the presence of the inhibitors, the pull is suppressed, and as a result, the heads simply bind to actin without exerting any force. The results support the idea that the inhibitors do not block the myosin binding to actin, but block the step of force-producing transition of the bound actomyosin complex.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hiroyuki Iwamoto
- Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, SPring-8, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5198, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Kampourakis T, Zhang X, Sun YB, Irving M. Omecamtiv mercabil and blebbistatin modulate cardiac contractility by perturbing the regulatory state of the myosin filament. J Physiol 2017; 596:31-46. [PMID: 29052230 PMCID: PMC5746517 DOI: 10.1113/jp275050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2017] [Accepted: 10/06/2017] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Key points Omecamtiv mecarbil and blebbistatin perturb the regulatory state of the thick filament in heart muscle. Omecamtiv mecarbil increases contractility at low levels of activation by stabilizing the ON state of the thick filament. Omecamtiv mecarbil decreases contractility at high levels of activation by disrupting the acto‐myosin ATPase cycle. Blebbistatin reduces contractility by stabilizing the thick filament OFF state and inhibiting acto‐myosin ATPase. Thick filament regulation is a promising target for novel therapeutics in heart disease.
Abstract Contraction of heart muscle is triggered by a transient rise in intracellular free calcium concentration linked to a change in the structure of the actin‐containing thin filaments that allows the head or motor domains of myosin from the thick filaments to bind to them and induce filament sliding. It is becoming increasingly clear that cardiac contractility is also regulated through structural changes in the thick filaments, although the molecular mechanisms underlying thick filament regulation are still relatively poorly understood. Here we investigated those mechanisms using small molecules – omecamtiv mecarbil (OM) and blebbistatin (BS) – that bind specifically to myosin and respectively activate or inhibit contractility in demembranated cardiac muscle cells. We measured isometric force and ATP utilization at different calcium and small‐molecule concentrations in parallel with in situ structural changes determined using fluorescent probes on the myosin regulatory light chain in the thick filaments and on troponin C in the thin filaments. The results show that BS inhibits contractility and actin‐myosin ATPase by stabilizing the OFF state of the thick filament in which myosin head domains are more parallel to the filament axis. In contrast, OM stabilizes the ON state of the thick filament, but inhibits contractility at high intracellular calcium concentration by disrupting the actin‐myosin ATPase pathway. The effects of BS and OM on the calcium sensitivity of isometric force and filament structural changes suggest that the co‐operativity of calcium activation in physiological conditions is due to positive coupling between the regulatory states of the thin and thick filaments. Omecamtiv mecarbil and blebbistatin perturb the regulatory state of the thick filament in heart muscle. Omecamtiv mecarbil increases contractility at low levels of activation by stabilizing the ON state of the thick filament. Omecamtiv mecarbil decreases contractility at high levels of activation by disrupting the acto‐myosin ATPase cycle. Blebbistatin reduces contractility by stabilizing the thick filament OFF state and inhibiting acto‐myosin ATPase. Thick filament regulation is a promising target for novel therapeutics in heart disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Kampourakis
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, King's College London, London, SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Xuemeng Zhang
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, King's College London, London, SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Yin-Biao Sun
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, King's College London, London, SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Malcolm Irving
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, King's College London, London, SE1 1UL, UK
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Alamo L, Koubassova N, Pinto A, Gillilan R, Tsaturyan A, Padrón R. Lessons from a tarantula: new insights into muscle thick filament and myosin interacting-heads motif structure and function. Biophys Rev 2017; 9:461-480. [PMID: 28871556 DOI: 10.1007/s12551-017-0295-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2017] [Accepted: 07/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The tarantula skeletal muscle X-ray diffraction pattern suggested that the myosin heads were helically arranged on the thick filaments. Electron microscopy (EM) of negatively stained relaxed tarantula thick filaments revealed four helices of heads allowing a helical 3D reconstruction. Due to its low resolution (5.0 nm), the unambiguous interpretation of densities of both heads was not possible. A resolution increase up to 2.5 nm, achieved by cryo-EM of frozen-hydrated relaxed thick filaments and an iterative helical real space reconstruction, allowed the resolving of both heads. The two heads, "free" and "blocked", formed an asymmetric structure named the "interacting-heads motif" (IHM) which explained relaxation by self-inhibition of both heads ATPases. This finding made tarantula an exemplar system for thick filament structure and function studies. Heads were shown to be released and disordered by Ca2+-activation through myosin regulatory light chain phosphorylation, leading to EM, small angle X-ray diffraction and scattering, and spectroscopic and biochemical studies of the IHM structure and function. The results from these studies have consequent implications for understanding and explaining myosin super-relaxed state and thick filament activation and regulation. A cooperative phosphorylation mechanism for activation in tarantula skeletal muscle, involving swaying constitutively Ser35 mono-phosphorylated free heads, explains super-relaxation, force potentiation and post-tetanic potentiation through Ser45 mono-phosphorylated blocked heads. Based on this mechanism, we propose a swaying-swinging, tilting crossbridge-sliding filament for tarantula muscle contraction.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Alamo
- Centro de Biología Estructural "Humberto Fernández-Morán", Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Apdo. 20632, Caracas, 1020A, Venezuela
| | - Natalia Koubassova
- Institute of Mechanics, Moscow State University, Mitchurinsky prosp. 1, Moscow, 119992, Russia
| | - Antonio Pinto
- Centro de Biología Estructural "Humberto Fernández-Morán", Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Apdo. 20632, Caracas, 1020A, Venezuela
| | - Richard Gillilan
- Macromolecular Diffraction Facility, Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Andrey Tsaturyan
- Institute of Mechanics, Moscow State University, Mitchurinsky prosp. 1, Moscow, 119992, Russia
| | - Raúl Padrón
- Centro de Biología Estructural "Humberto Fernández-Morán", Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Apdo. 20632, Caracas, 1020A, Venezuela.
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Alamo L, Ware JS, Pinto A, Gillilan RE, Seidman JG, Seidman CE, Padrón R. Effects of myosin variants on interacting-heads motif explain distinct hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy phenotypes. eLife 2017; 6:e24634. [PMID: 28606303 PMCID: PMC5469618 DOI: 10.7554/elife.24634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 135] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2016] [Accepted: 05/05/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Cardiac β-myosin variants cause hypertrophic (HCM) or dilated (DCM) cardiomyopathy by disrupting sarcomere contraction and relaxation. The locations of variants on isolated myosin head structures predict contractility effects but not the prominent relaxation and energetic deficits that characterize HCM. During relaxation, pairs of myosins form interacting-heads motif (IHM) structures that with other sarcomere proteins establish an energy-saving, super-relaxed (SRX) state. Using a human β-cardiac myosin IHM quasi-atomic model, we defined interactions sites between adjacent myosin heads and associated protein partners, and then analyzed rare variants from 6112 HCM and 1315 DCM patients and 33,370 ExAC controls. HCM variants, 72% that changed electrostatic charges, disproportionately altered IHM interaction residues (expected 23%; HCM 54%, p=2.6×10-19; DCM 26%, p=0.66; controls 20%, p=0.23). HCM variant locations predict impaired IHM formation and stability, and attenuation of the SRX state - accounting for altered contractility, reduced diastolic relaxation, and increased energy consumption, that fully characterizes HCM pathogenesis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Alamo
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela
| | - James S Ware
- National Heart and Lung Institute and MRC London Institute for Medical Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- NIHR Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
| | - Antonio Pinto
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela
| | - Richard E Gillilan
- Macromolecular Diffraction Facility, Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, Ithaca, United States
| | | | - Christine E Seidman
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
- Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, United States
| | - Raúl Padrón
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Fusi L, Huang Z, Irving M. The Conformation of Myosin Heads in Relaxed Skeletal Muscle: Implications for Myosin-Based Regulation. Biophys J 2016; 109:783-92. [PMID: 26287630 PMCID: PMC4547144 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2015.06.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2015] [Revised: 06/04/2015] [Accepted: 06/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
In isolated thick filaments from many types of muscle, the two head domains of each myosin molecule are folded back against the filament backbone in a conformation called the interacting heads motif (IHM) in which actin interaction is inhibited. This conformation is present in resting skeletal muscle, but it is not known how exit from the IHM state is achieved during muscle activation. Here, we investigated this by measuring the in situ conformation of the light chain domain of the myosin heads in relaxed demembranated fibers from rabbit psoas muscle using fluorescence polarization from bifunctional rhodamine probes at four sites on the C-terminal lobe of the myosin regulatory light chain (RLC). The order parameter 〈P2〉 describing probe orientation with respect to the filament axis had a roughly sigmoidal dependence on temperature in relaxing conditions, with a half-maximal change at ∼19°C. Either lattice compression by 5% dextran T500 or addition of 25 μM blebbistatin decreased the transition temperature to ∼14°C. Maximum entropy analysis revealed three preferred orientations of the myosin RLC region at 25°C and above, two with its long axis roughly parallel to the filament axis and one roughly perpendicular. The parallel orientations are similar to those of the so-called blocked and free heads in the IHM and are stabilized by either lattice compression or blebbistatin. In relaxed skeletal muscle at near-physiological temperature and myofilament lattice spacing, the majority of the myosin heads have their light chain domains in IHM-like conformations, with a minority in a distinct conformation with their RLC regions roughly perpendicular to the filament axis. None of these three orientation populations were present during active contraction. These results are consistent with a regulatory transition of the thick filament in skeletal muscle associated with a conformational equilibrium of the myosin heads.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Luca Fusi
- Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Zhe Huang
- Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Malcolm Irving
- Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Alamo L, Qi D, Wriggers W, Pinto A, Zhu J, Bilbao A, Gillilan RE, Hu S, Padrón R. Conserved Intramolecular Interactions Maintain Myosin Interacting-Heads Motifs Explaining Tarantula Muscle Super-Relaxed State Structural Basis. J Mol Biol 2016; 428:1142-1164. [PMID: 26851071 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2016.01.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2015] [Revised: 01/15/2016] [Accepted: 01/25/2016] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Tarantula striated muscle is an outstanding system for understanding the molecular organization of myosin filaments. Three-dimensional reconstruction based on cryo-electron microscopy images and single-particle image processing revealed that, in a relaxed state, myosin molecules undergo intramolecular head-head interactions, explaining why head activity switches off. The filament model obtained by rigidly docking a chicken smooth muscle myosin structure to the reconstruction was improved by flexibly fitting an atomic model built by mixing structures from different species to a tilt-corrected 2-nm three-dimensional map of frozen-hydrated tarantula thick filament. We used heavy and light chain sequences from tarantula myosin to build a single-species homology model of two heavy meromyosin interacting-heads motifs (IHMs). The flexibly fitted model includes previously missing loops and shows five intramolecular and five intermolecular interactions that keep the IHM in a compact off structure, forming four helical tracks of IHMs around the backbone. The residues involved in these interactions are oppositely charged, and their sequence conservation suggests that IHM is present across animal species. The new model, PDB 3JBH, explains the structural origin of the ATP turnover rates detected in relaxed tarantula muscle by ascribing the very slow rate to docked unphosphorylated heads, the slow rate to phosphorylated docked heads, and the fast rate to phosphorylated undocked heads. The conservation of intramolecular interactions across animal species and the presence of IHM in bilaterians suggest that a super-relaxed state should be maintained, as it plays a role in saving ATP in skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscles.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Alamo
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Apartado 20632, Caracas 1020A, Venezuela.
| | - Dan Qi
- Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
| | - Willy Wriggers
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, 5115 Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA.
| | - Antonio Pinto
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Apartado 20632, Caracas 1020A, Venezuela.
| | - Jingui Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
| | - Aivett Bilbao
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Apartado 20632, Caracas 1020A, Venezuela.
| | - Richard E Gillilan
- Macromolecular Diffraction Facility, Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source, 161 Wilson Laboratory, Synchrotron Drive, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
| | - Songnian Hu
- Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.
| | - Raúl Padrón
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Apartado 20632, Caracas 1020A, Venezuela.
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Wilson C, Naber N, Pate E, Cooke R. The myosin inhibitor blebbistatin stabilizes the super-relaxed state in skeletal muscle. Biophys J 2015; 107:1637-46. [PMID: 25296316 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2014.07.075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2014] [Revised: 07/15/2014] [Accepted: 07/16/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The super-relaxed state of myosin (SRX), in which the myosin ATPase activity is strongly inhibited, has been observed in a variety of muscle types. It has been proposed that myosin heads in this state are inhibited by binding to the core of the thick filament in a structure known as the interacting-heads motif. The myosin inhibitor blebbistatin has been shown in structural studies to stabilize the binding of myosin heads to the thick filament, and here we have utilized measurements of single ATP turnovers to show that blebbistatin also stabilizes the SRX in both fast and slow skeletal muscle, providing further support for the proposal that myosin heads in the SRX are also in the interacting-heads motif. We find that the SRX is stabilized using blebbistatin even in conditions that normally destabilize it, e.g., rigor ADP. Using blebbistatin we show that spin-labeled nucleotides bound to myosin have an oriented spectrum in the SRX in both slow and fast skeletal muscle. This is to our knowledge the first observation of oriented spin probes on the myosin motor domain in relaxed skeletal muscle fibers. The spectra for skeletal muscle with blebbistatin are similar to those observed in relaxed tarantula fibers in the absence of blebbistatin, demonstrating that the structure of the SRX is similar in different muscle types and in the presence and absence of blebbistatin. The mobility of spin probes attached to nucleotides bound to myosin shows that the conformation of the nucleotide site is closed in the SRX.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Clyde Wilson
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, California
| | - Nariman Naber
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, California
| | - Edward Pate
- Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington
| | - Roger Cooke
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, California; Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, California.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Pinto A, Sánchez F, Alamo L, Padrón R. The myosin interacting-heads motif is present in the relaxed thick filament of the striated muscle of scorpion. J Struct Biol 2012; 180:469-78. [PMID: 22982253 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsb.2012.08.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2012] [Revised: 08/27/2012] [Accepted: 08/29/2012] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Electron microscopy (EM) studies of 2D crystals of smooth muscle myosin molecules have shown that in the inactive state the two heads of a myosin molecule interact asymmetrically forming a myosin interacting-heads motif. This suggested that inactivation of the two heads occurs by blocking of the actin-binding site of one (free head) and the ATP hydrolysis site of the other (blocked head). This motif has been found by EM of isolated negatively stained myosin molecules of unregulated (vertebrate skeletal and cardiac muscle) and regulated (invertebrate striated and vertebrate smooth muscle) myosins, and nonmuscle myosin. The same motif has also been found in 3D-reconstructions of frozen-hydrated (tarantula, Limulus, scallop) and negatively stained (scallop, vertebrate cardiac) isolated thick filaments. We are carrying out studies of isolated thick filaments from other species to assess how general this myosin interacting-heads motif is. Here, using EM, we have visualized isolated, negatively stained thick filaments from scorpion striated muscle. We modified the iterative helical real space reconstruction (IHRSR) method to include filament tilt, and band-pass filtered the aligned segments before averaging, achieving a 3.3 nm resolution 3D-reconstruction. This reconstruction revealed the presence of the myosin interacting-heads motif (adding to evidence that is widely spread), together with 12 subfilaments in the filament backbone. This demonstrates that conventional negative staining and imaging can be used to detect the presence of the myosin interacting-heads motif in helically ordered thick filaments from different species and muscle types, thus avoiding the use of less accessible cryo-EM and low electron-dose procedures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Pinto
- Centro de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas-IVIC, Apdo. 20632, Caracas 1020A, Venezuela.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
15
|
Jung HS, Billington N, Thirumurugan K, Salzameda B, Cremo CR, Chalovich JM, Chantler PD, Knight PJ. Role of the tail in the regulated state of myosin 2. J Mol Biol 2011; 408:863-78. [PMID: 21419133 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2011.03.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2010] [Revised: 03/08/2011] [Accepted: 03/09/2011] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Myosin 2 from vertebrate smooth muscle or non-muscle sources is in equilibrium between compact, inactive monomers and thick filaments under physiological conditions. In the inactive monomer, the two heads pack compactly together, and the long tail is folded into three closely packed segments that are associated chiefly with one of the heads. The molecular basis of the folding of the tail remains unexplained. By using electron microscopy, we show that compact monomers of smooth muscle myosin 2 have the same structure in both the native state and following specific, intramolecular photo-cross-linking between Cys109 of the regulatory light chain (RLC) and segment 3 of the tail. Nonspecific cross-linking between lysine residues of the folded monomer by glutaraldehyde also does not perturb the compact conformation and stabilizes it against unfolding at high ionic strength. Sequence comparisons across phyla and myosin 2 isoforms suggest that the folding of the tail is stabilized by ionic interactions between the positively charged N-terminal sequence of the RLC and a negatively charged region near the start of tail segment 3 and that phosphorylation of the RLC could perturb these interactions. Our results support the view that interactions between the heads and the distal tail perform a critical role in regulating activity of myosin 2 molecules through stabilizing the compact monomer conformation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hyun Suk Jung
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
16
|
Electron microscopic visualization of the cross-bridge movement coupled with ATP hydrolysis in muscle thick filaments in aqueous solution, reminiscences and future prospects. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2010. [PMID: 20824521 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-6366-6_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
Abstract
Although it has been well established that muscle contraction results from cyclic attachment-detachment between the cross-bridges extending from the thick filaments and the sites on the thin filaments, the movement of the cross-bridges coupled with ATP hydrolysis still remains to be a matter for debate and speculation. The most straightforward way to elucidate this mystery is to record individual cross-bridge movement in response to ATP. Using a gas environmental chamber (EC, or hydration chamber), with which biological specimens retaining their physiological function can be observed under an electron microscope, my coworkers and I succeeded in recording the ATP-induced individual cross-bridge movement in two different kinds of synthetic thick filaments in 1997 and 2008. In the synthetic bipolar filaments consisting of rabbit skeletal muscle myosin, the amplitude of cross-bridge movement exhibits a peak at 5-7.5 nm, and the direction of cross-bridge movement is away from, but not towards, the filament bare region in the absence of thin filaments. After exhaustion of ATP, the cross-bridges return towards their initial position, indicating that the initial cross-bridge state may be analogous to that after completion of power stroke. These results constitute the first visualization of the cross-bridge recovery stroke, indicating that the EC is a powerful tool to open new horizons in the research fields of life sciences.
Collapse
|
17
|
Xu S, White HD, Offer GW, Yu LC. Stabilization of helical order in the thick filaments by blebbistatin: further evidence of coexisting multiple conformations of myosin. Biophys J 2009; 96:3673-81. [PMID: 19413972 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2009.01.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2008] [Revised: 01/06/2009] [Accepted: 01/21/2009] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The degree of helical order of the thick filament of mammalian skeletal muscle is highly dependent on temperature and the nature of the ligand. Previously, we showed that there was a close correlation between the conformation of the myosin heads on the surface of the thick filaments and the extent of their helical order. Helical order required the heads to be in the closed conformation. In addition, we showed that, with the same ligand bound at the active site, three conformations of myosin coexisted in equilibrium. Hitherto, however, there was no detectable helical order as measured by x-ray diffraction under the temperatures studied for myosin with MgADP and the nucleotide-free myosin, raising the possibility that the concept of multiple conformations has limited validity. In this study, blebbistatin was used to stabilize the closed conformation of myosin. The degree of helical order is substantially improved with MgATP at low temperature or with MgADP or in the absence of nucleotide. The thermodynamic parameters of the disorder<-->order transition and the characteristics of the ordered array were not significantly altered by binding blebbistatin. The simplest explanation is that the binding of blebbistatin increases the proportion of myosin in the closed conformation from being negligible to substantial. These results provide further evidence for the coexistence of multiple conformations of myosin under a wide range of conditions and for the closed conformation being directly coupled to helical order.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sengen Xu
- National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
18
|
Sugi H, Minoda H, Inayoshi Y, Yumoto F, Miyakawa T, Miyauchi Y, Tanokura M, Akimoto T, Kobayashi T, Chaen S, Sugiura S. Direct demonstration of the cross-bridge recovery stroke in muscle thick filaments in aqueous solution by using the hydration chamber. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2008; 105:17396-401. [PMID: 18987316 PMCID: PMC2582281 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0809581105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2008] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite >50 years of research work since the discovery of sliding filament mechanism in muscle contraction, structural details of the coupling of cyclic cross-bridge movement to ATP hydrolysis are not yet fully understood. An example would be whether lever arm tilting on the myosin filament backbone will occur in the absence of actin. The most direct way to elucidate such movement is to record ATP-induced cross-bridge movement in hydrated thick filaments. Using the hydration chamber, with which biological specimens can be kept in an aqueous environment in an electron microscope, we have succeeded in recording ATP-induced cross-bridge movement in hydrated thick filaments consisting of rabbit skeletal muscle myosin, with gold position markers attached to the cross-bridges. The position of individual cross-bridges did not change appreciably with time in the absence of ATP, indicating stability of time-averaged cross-bridge mean position. On application of ATP, individual cross-bridges moved nearly parallel to the filament long axis. The amplitude of the ATP-induced cross-bridge movement showed a peak at 5-7.5 nm. At both sides of the filament bare region, across which the cross-bridge polarity was reversed, the cross-bridges were found to move away from, but not toward, the bare region. Application of ADP produced no appreciable cross-bridge movement. Because ATP reacts rapidly with the cross-bridges (M) to form complex (M x ADP x Pi) with an average lifetime >10 s, the observed cross-bridge movement is associated with reaction, M + ATP --> M x ADP x Pi. The cross-bridges were observed to return to their initial position after exhaustion of ATP. These results constitute direct demonstration of the cross-bridge recovery stroke.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Haruo Sugi
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Teikyo University, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8605, Japan.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
19
|
Zhao FQ, Craig R, Woodhead JL. Head-head interaction characterizes the relaxed state of Limulus muscle myosin filaments. J Mol Biol 2008; 385:423-31. [PMID: 18976661 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2008.10.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2008] [Revised: 10/01/2008] [Accepted: 10/06/2008] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Regulation of muscle contraction via the myosin filaments occurs in vertebrate smooth and many invertebrate striated muscles. Studies of unphosphorylated vertebrate smooth muscle myosin suggest that activity is switched off through an intramolecular interaction between the actin-binding region of one head and the converter and essential light chains of the other, inhibiting ATPase activity and actin interaction. The same interaction (and additional interaction with the tail) is seen in three-dimensional reconstructions of relaxed, native myosin filaments from tarantula striated muscle, suggesting that such interactions are likely to underlie the off-state of myosin across a wide spectrum of the animal kingdom. We have tested this hypothesis by carrying out cryo-electron microscopy and three-dimensional image reconstruction of myosin filaments from horseshoe crab (Limulus) muscle. The same head-head and head-tail interactions seen in tarantula are also seen in Limulus, supporting the hypothesis. Other data suggest that this motif may underlie the relaxed state of myosin II in all species (including myosin II in nonmuscle cells), with the possible exception of insect flight muscle. The molecular organization of the myosin tails in the backbone of muscle thick filaments is unknown and may differ between species. X-ray diffraction data support a general model for crustaceans in which tails associate together to form 4-nm-diameter subfilaments, with these subfilaments assembling together to form the backbone. This model is supported by direct observation of 4-nm-diameter elongated strands in the tarantula reconstruction, suggesting that it might be a general structure across the arthropods. We observe a similar backbone organization in the Limulus reconstruction, supporting the general existence of such subfilaments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fa-Qing Zhao
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655, USA
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
20
|
Alamo L, Wriggers W, Pinto A, Bártoli F, Salazar L, Zhao FQ, Craig R, Padrón R. Three-dimensional reconstruction of tarantula myosin filaments suggests how phosphorylation may regulate myosin activity. J Mol Biol 2008; 384:780-97. [PMID: 18951904 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2008.10.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 117] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2008] [Revised: 09/27/2008] [Accepted: 10/02/2008] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Muscle contraction involves the interaction of the myosin heads of the thick filaments with actin subunits of the thin filaments. Relaxation occurs when this interaction is blocked by molecular switches on these filaments. In many muscles, myosin-linked regulation involves phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chains (RLCs). Electron microscopy of vertebrate smooth muscle myosin molecules (regulated by phosphorylation) has provided insight into the relaxed structure, revealing that myosin is switched off by intramolecular interactions between its two heads, the free head and the blocked head. Three-dimensional reconstruction of frozen-hydrated specimens revealed that this asymmetric head interaction is also present in native thick filaments of tarantula striated muscle. Our goal in this study was to elucidate the structural features of the tarantula filament involved in phosphorylation-based regulation. A new reconstruction revealed intra- and intermolecular myosin interactions in addition to those seen previously. To help interpret the interactions, we sequenced the tarantula RLC and fitted an atomic model of the myosin head that included the predicted RLC atomic structure and an S2 (subfragment 2) crystal structure to the reconstruction. The fitting suggests one intramolecular interaction, between the cardiomyopathy loop of the free head and its own S2, and two intermolecular interactions, between the cardiac loop of the free head and the essential light chain of the blocked head and between the Leu305-Gln327 interaction loop of the free head and the N-terminal fragment of the RLC of the blocked head. These interactions, added to those previously described, would help switch off the thick filament. Molecular dynamics simulations suggest how phosphorylation could increase the helical content of the RLC N-terminus, weakening these interactions, thus releasing both heads and activating the thick filament.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Alamo
- Departamento de Biología Estructural, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
21
|
Zhao FQ, Padrón R, Craig R. Blebbistatin stabilizes the helical order of myosin filaments by promoting the switch 2 closed state. Biophys J 2008; 95:3322-9. [PMID: 18599626 PMCID: PMC2547462 DOI: 10.1529/biophysj.108.137067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2008] [Accepted: 06/13/2008] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Blebbistatin is a small-molecule, high-affinity, noncompetitive inhibitor of myosin II. We have used negative staining electron microscopy to study the effects of blebbistatin on the organization of the myosin heads on muscle thick filaments. Loss of ADP and Pi from the heads causes thick filaments to lose their helical ordering. In the presence of 100 microM blebbistatin, disordering was at least 10 times slower. In the M.ADP state, myosin heads are also disordered. When blebbistatin was added to M.ADP thick filaments, helical ordering was restored. However, blebbistatin did not improve the order of thick filaments lacking bound nucleotide. Addition of calcium to relaxed muscle homogenates induced thick-thin filament interaction and filament sliding. In the presence of blebbistatin, filament interaction was inhibited. These structural observations support the conclusion, based on biochemical studies, that blebbistatin inhibits myosin ATPase and actin interaction by stabilizing the closed switch 2 structure of the myosin head. These properties make blebbistatin a useful tool in structural and functional studies of cell motility and muscle contraction.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fa-Qing Zhao
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, USA
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
22
|
Hooper SL, Hobbs KH, Thuma JB. Invertebrate muscles: thin and thick filament structure; molecular basis of contraction and its regulation, catch and asynchronous muscle. Prog Neurobiol 2008; 86:72-127. [PMID: 18616971 PMCID: PMC2650078 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2008.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 106] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2007] [Revised: 05/08/2008] [Accepted: 06/12/2008] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
This is the second in a series of canonical reviews on invertebrate muscle. We cover here thin and thick filament structure, the molecular basis of force generation and its regulation, and two special properties of some invertebrate muscle, catch and asynchronous muscle. Invertebrate thin filaments resemble vertebrate thin filaments, although helix structure and tropomyosin arrangement show small differences. Invertebrate thick filaments, alternatively, are very different from vertebrate striated thick filaments and show great variation within invertebrates. Part of this diversity stems from variation in paramyosin content, which is greatly increased in very large diameter invertebrate thick filaments. Other of it arises from relatively small changes in filament backbone structure, which results in filaments with grossly similar myosin head placements (rotating crowns of heads every 14.5 nm) but large changes in detail (distances between heads in azimuthal registration varying from three to thousands of crowns). The lever arm basis of force generation is common to both vertebrates and invertebrates, and in some invertebrates this process is understood on the near atomic level. Invertebrate actomyosin is both thin (tropomyosin:troponin) and thick (primarily via direct Ca(++) binding to myosin) filament regulated, and most invertebrate muscles are dually regulated. These mechanisms are well understood on the molecular level, but the behavioral utility of dual regulation is less so. The phosphorylation state of the thick filament associated giant protein, twitchin, has been recently shown to be the molecular basis of catch. The molecular basis of the stretch activation underlying asynchronous muscle activity, however, remains unresolved.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Scott L. Hooper
- Neuroscience Program Department of Biological Sciences Ohio University Athens, OH 45701 614 593-0679 (voice) 614 593-0687 (FAX)
| | - Kevin H. Hobbs
- Neuroscience Program Department of Biological Sciences Ohio University Athens, OH 45701 614 593-0679 (voice) 614 593-0687 (FAX)
| | - Jeffrey B. Thuma
- Neuroscience Program Department of Biological Sciences Ohio University Athens, OH 45701 614 593-0679 (voice) 614 593-0687 (FAX)
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Zhao FQ, Craig R. Millisecond time-resolved changes occurring in Ca2+-regulated myosin filaments upon relaxation. J Mol Biol 2008; 381:256-60. [PMID: 18585394 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2008.06.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2008] [Revised: 06/05/2008] [Accepted: 06/11/2008] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Contraction of many muscles is activated in part by the binding of Ca(2+) to, or phosphorylation of, the myosin heads on the surface of the thick filaments. In relaxed muscle, the myosin heads are helically ordered and undergo minimal interaction with actin. On Ca(2+) binding or phosphorylation, the head array becomes disordered, reflecting breakage of the head-head and other interactions that underlie the ordered structure. Loosening of the heads from the filament surface enables them to interact with actin filaments, bringing about contraction. On relaxation, the heads return to their ordered positions on the filament backbone. In scallop striated adductor muscle, the disordering that takes place on Ca(2+) binding occurs on the millisecond time scale, suggesting that it is a key element of muscle activation. Here we have studied the reverse process. Using time-resolved negative staining electron microscopy, we show that the rate of reordering on removal of Ca(2+) also occurs on the same physiological time scale. Direct observation of images together with analysis of their Fourier transforms shows that activated heads regain their axial ordering within 20 ms and become ordered in their final helical positions within 50 ms. This rapid reordering suggests that reformation of the ordered structure, and the head-head and other interactions that underlie it, is a critical element of the relaxation process.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fa-Qing Zhao
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
24
|
Jung HS, Komatsu S, Ikebe M, Craig R. Head-head and head-tail interaction: a general mechanism for switching off myosin II activity in cells. Mol Biol Cell 2008; 19:3234-42. [PMID: 18495867 DOI: 10.1091/mbc.e08-02-0206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 151] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Intramolecular interaction between myosin heads, blocking key sites involved in actin-binding and ATPase activity, appears to be a critical mechanism for switching off vertebrate smooth-muscle myosin molecules, leading to relaxation. We have tested the hypothesis that this interaction is a general mechanism for switching off myosin II-based motile activity in both muscle and nonmuscle cells. Electron microscopic images of negatively stained myosin II molecules were analyzed by single particle image processing. Molecules from invertebrate striated muscles with phosphorylation-dependent regulation showed head-head interactions in the off-state similar to those in vertebrate smooth muscle. A similar structure was observed in nonmuscle myosin II (also phosphorylation-regulated). Surprisingly, myosins from vertebrate skeletal and cardiac muscle, which are not intrinsically regulated, undergo similar head-head interactions in relaxing conditions. In all of these myosins, we also observe conserved interactions between the 'blocked' myosin head and the myosin tail, which may contribute to the switched-off state. These results suggest that intramolecular head-head and head-tail interactions are a general mechanism both for inducing muscle relaxation and for switching off myosin II-based motile activity in nonmuscle cells. These interactions are broken when myosin is activated.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hyun Suk Jung
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655, USA
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
25
|
Zoghbi ME, Woodhead JL, Moss RL, Craig R. Three-dimensional structure of vertebrate cardiac muscle myosin filaments. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2008; 105:2386-90. [PMID: 18252826 PMCID: PMC2268146 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0708912105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 213] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2007] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Contraction of the heart results from interaction of the myosin and actin filaments. Cardiac myosin filaments consist of the molecular motor myosin II, the sarcomeric template protein, titin, and the cardiac modulatory protein, myosin binding protein C (MyBP-C). Inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a disease caused mainly by mutations in these proteins. The structure of cardiac myosin filaments and the alterations caused by HCM mutations are unknown. We have used electron microscopy and image analysis to determine the three-dimensional structure of myosin filaments from wild-type mouse cardiac muscle and from a MyBP-C knockout model for HCM. Three-dimensional reconstruction of the wild-type filament reveals the conformation of the myosin heads and the organization of titin and MyBP-C at 4 nm resolution. Myosin heads appear to interact with each other intramolecularly, as in off-state smooth muscle myosin [Wendt T, Taylor D, Trybus KM, Taylor K (2001) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:4361-4366], suggesting that all relaxed muscle myosin IIs may adopt this conformation. Titin domains run in an elongated strand along the filament surface, where they appear to interact with part of MyBP-C and with the myosin backbone. In the knockout filament, some of the myosin head interactions are disrupted, suggesting that MyBP-C is important for normal relaxation of the filament. These observations provide key insights into the role of the myosin filament in cardiac contraction, assembly, and disease. The techniques we have developed should be useful in studying the structural basis of other myosin-related HCM diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maria E. Zoghbi
- *Department of Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655; and
| | - John L. Woodhead
- *Department of Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655; and
| | - Richard L. Moss
- Department of Physiology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53706
| | - Roger Craig
- *Department of Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655; and
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Xu S, Gu J, Belknap B, White H, Yu LC. Structural characterization of the binding of Myosin*ADP*Pi to actin in permeabilized rabbit psoas muscle. Biophys J 2006; 91:3370-82. [PMID: 16905611 PMCID: PMC1614505 DOI: 10.1529/biophysj.106.086918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2006] [Accepted: 06/30/2006] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
When myosin is attached to actin in a muscle cell, various structures in the filaments are formed. The two strongly bound states (A*M*ADP and A*M) and the weakly bound A*M*ATP states are reasonably well understood. The orientation of the strongly bound myosin heads is uniform ("stereospecific" attachment), and the attached heads exhibit little spatial fluctuation. In the prehydrolysis weakly bound A*M*ATP state, the orientations of the attached myosin heads assume a wide range of azimuthal and axial angles, indicating considerable flexibility in the myosin head. The structure of the other weakly bound state, A*M*ADP*P(i), however, is poorly understood. This state is thought to be the critical pre-power-stroke state, poised to make the transition to the strongly binding, force-generating states, and hence it is of particular interest for understanding the mechanism of contraction. However, because of the low affinity between myosin and actin in the A*M*ADP*P(i) state, the structure of this state has eluded determination both in isolated form and in muscle cells. With the knowledge recently gained in the structures of the weakly binding M*ATP, M*ADP*P(i) states and the weakly attached A*M*ATP state in muscle fibers, it is now feasible to delineate the in vivo structure of the attached state of A*M*ADP*P(i). The series of experiments presented in this article were carried out under relaxing conditions at 25 degrees C, where approximately 95% of the myosin heads in the skinned rabbit psoas muscle contain the hydrolysis products. The affinity for actin is enhanced by adding polyethylene glycol (PEG) or by lowering the ionic strength in the bathing solution. Solution kinetics and binding constants were determined in the presence and in the absence of PEG. When the binding between actin and myosin was increased, both the myosin layer lines and the actin layer lines increased in intensity, but the intensity profiles did not change. The configuration (mode) of attachment in the A*M*ADP*P(i) state is thus unique among the intermediate attached states of the cross-bridge ATP hydrolysis cycle. One of the simplest explanations is that both myosin filaments and actin filaments are stabilized (e.g., undergo reduced spatial fluctuations) by the attachment. The alignment of the myosin heads in the thick filaments and the alignment of the actin monomers in the thin filaments are improved as a result. The compact atomic structure of M*ADP*P(i) with strongly coupled domains may contribute to the unique attachment configuration: the "primed" myosin heads may function as "transient struts" when attached to the thin filaments.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sengen Xu
- National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
27
|
Craig R, Woodhead JL. Structure and function of myosin filaments. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2006; 16:204-12. [PMID: 16563742 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2006.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 143] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2006] [Revised: 02/23/2006] [Accepted: 03/13/2006] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Myosin filaments interact with actin to generate muscle contraction and many forms of cell motility. X-ray and electron microscopy (EM) studies have revealed the general organization of myosin molecules in relaxed filaments, but technical difficulties have prevented a detailed description. Recent studies using improved ultrastructural and image analysis techniques are overcoming these problems. Three-dimensional reconstructions using single-particle methods have provided many new insights into the organization of the myosin heads and tails. Docking of atomic structures into cryo-EM density maps suggests how regulated myosin filaments are 'switched off', bringing about muscle relaxation. Additionally, sequence analysis suggests probable interactions between myosin tails in the backbone, whereas crystallographic and EM studies are starting to reveal tail interactions directly in three dimensions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Roger Craig
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655, USA.
| | | |
Collapse
|