Whittington AC, Nienow TE, Whittington CL, Fort TJ, Grove TJ. Functional and structural characterization of a eurytolerant calsequestrin from the intertidal teleost Fundulus heteroclitus.
PLoS One 2012;
7:e50801. [PMID:
23226387 PMCID:
PMC3511267 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0050801]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2012] [Accepted: 10/25/2012] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Calsequestrins (CSQ) are high capacity, medium affinity, calcium-binding proteins present in the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of cardiac and skeletal muscles. CSQ sequesters Ca2+ during muscle relaxation and increases the Ca2+-storage capacity of the SR. Mammalian CSQ has been well studied as a model of human disease, but little is known about the environmental adaptation of CSQ isoforms from poikilothermic organisms. The mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus, is an intertidal fish that experiences significant daily and seasonal environmental fluctuations and is an interesting study system for investigations of adaptation at the protein level. We determined the full-length coding sequence of a CSQ isoform from skeletal muscle of F. heteroclitus (FCSQ) and characterized the function and structure of this CSQ. The dissociation constant (Kd) of FCSQ is relatively insensitive to changes in temperature and pH, thus indicating that FCSQ is a eurytolerant protein. We identified and characterized a highly conserved salt bridge network in FCSQ that stabilizes the formation of front-to-front dimers, a process critical to CSQ function. The functional profile of FCSQ correlates with the natural history of F. heteroclitus suggesting that the eurytolerant function of FCSQ may be adaptive.
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