Abstract GS108: Troponin I Tyrosine-26 Phosphorylation Improves Relaxation And Is Beneficial During Pathological Diastolic Dysfunction

Diastolic dysfunction contributes to disease in both heart failure with preserved and reduced ejection fraction. There are currently no approved therapies to accelerate impaired relaxation for heart failure patients with diastolic dysfunction. A healthy heart can modify its ability to relax through post-translational modifications (e.g., phosphorylation) of myofilament proteins. The inhibitory subunit of the troponin complex, troponin I (TnI), is a key regulator of cardiac contraction and relaxation and is endogenously phosphorylated at Tyr-26. We previously demonstrated that this novel tyrosine phosphorylation decreases calcium sensitivity and accelerates calcium dissociation from troponin C. We therefore hypothesize that increasing TnI Tyr-26 phosphorylation will accelerate relaxation and be beneficial during pathological diastolic dysfunction. To determine the effects of TnI Tyr-26 phosphorylation in vivo , we generated a phospho-mimetic mouse with TnI Tyr-26 mutated to Glu. Structural and functional echocardiography and hemodynamics measurements demonstrate that TnI Tyr-26 phosphorylation accelerates relaxation and increases diastolic function in vivo . To determine the effect of this TnI Tyr-26 phosphorylation mediated acceleration of diastolic function during disease, we performed unilateral nephrectomy with DOCA-salt (neph/DOCA) to induce diastolic dysfunction. Wild-type mice subjected to neph/DOCA develop left ventricular hypertrophy, enlarged left atria, elevated diastolic pressure, and slowed relaxation, indicative of diastolic dysfunction. In contrast with wild-type, TnI Tyr-26 phosphorylation mice subjected to neph/DOCA display normal diastolic function without any cardiac remodeling. Overall, we demonstrate that TnI Tyr-26 phosphorylation inhibits the development of diastolic dysfunction and is therefore a novel mechanism to accelerate myocardial relaxation in vivo.

Abstract MP209: Troponin I Phosphorylation Is Essential For Cardiac Reserve

In response to increase in metabolic demand (e.g., exercise), the heart must increase its pumping performance to meet this demand. To achieve this increase, the heart relies on its cardiac reserve, which is the ability to increase in its contractile and diastolic function. The mechanism responsible for cardiac reserve is poorly understood. The myofilament is the mechanism responsible for contraction and relaxation. Troponin I (the inhibitory subunit of troponin, TnI) is a key regulatory protein. Studies have shown TnI serine 23/24 (S23/S24) phosphorylation, the most abundant and important TnI phosphorylation, is a key mechanism for accelerating relaxation by decreasing Ca 2+ senstivity. The role of TnI in cardiac reserve is unknown. For this study, we thoroughly characterized the systolic and diastolic reserve in TnI S23/S24 phosphorylation-null transgenic mice (S23/S24 mutated to alanine, AA mice). Even with increased Ca 2+ sensitivity, the AA mice exhibited normal function at resting heart rate and no difference in cardiac structure compared to wildtype. To increase in vivo heart performance, the most important system is the Bowditch effect (i.e., an increase in contractile function with increasing heart rate). To examine the role TnI S23/S24 phosphorylation in systolic and diastolic reserve, we assessed hemodynamics via left ventricular catheterization on the Bowditch effect by increasing heart rate from 240 to 420 beats per minute. Our data exhibited a clear loss of diastolic and systolic reserve in the AA mice. Since we observed a clear inability to increase systolic and diastolic function in AA mice, we performed speckle tracking echocardiography to more quantitatively investigate AA mice function. We observed that AA mice demonstrated normal systolic function (radial strain rate) and impaired directional diastolic function (reverse radial strain rate) at resting heart rate. We conclude that TnI S23/S24 phosphorylation is essential for cardiac reserve by enhancing systolic and diastolic function. A blunted cardiac reserve leads to heart disease making TnI S23/S24 phosphorylation a potential therapeutic strategy.

Abstract P421: Analysis Of The Functional Relevance Of Human Beta-myosin Heavy Chain Post-translational Modifications

Sarcomeric proteins have been shown to be a target of post-translational modifications (PTMs). Phosphorylation and acetylation of several sarcomeric proteins have been reported to be important for fine-tuning of myocardial contractility. Given the emerging importance of understanding the potential role of PTMs on cardiac muscle performance in healthy and diseased states, we sought to identify novel PTMs on human cardiac beta-myosin heavy chain (beta-MHC). We found several high confidence beta-MHC peptides modified by K-acetylation and S- and T-phosphorylation found in non-diseased, ischemic, and non-ischemic human heart samples. Using bottom-up proteomics and label-free quantification, we identified seven high-confidence peptides (K34, K58, S210, T215, K429, K951, K1195) with K951 displaying significant reduction in acetylation levels in both ischemic and non-ischemic failing hearts compared to donor hearts. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to better understand the functional significance of the beta-MHC PTMs. Focus was placed on modifications in the regions with greatest potential functional significance as well as modified residues with significantly altered abundance in diseased states (K951-Ac at the myosin tail nearby a binding site for myosin heads in the super-relaxed state). K951 is located in the myosin tail (S2) at the C-terminal end of simulated structure. In both unmodified and modified simulations, the tail fragment showed significant flexibility and partial unfolding at the C-terminus. In the unmodified simulations, the inter- and intra-helical contacts were maintained. However, when beta-MHC is acetylated at residue 951, these helical contacts were altered as the uncharged acetylated residue no longer formed strong hydrogen bonds with a residue of the opposite chain. This facilitated changes increase in inter-helical contacts, an increase in inter-helical distance, and disruption of the coiled-coil tail domain structure. Our study suggests that there are distinct differences in beta-MHC acetylation levels that appear to be influenced more by location of the modified residues than the type of heart disease (ischemic- and non-ischemic heart failure). Additionally, we speculate that these PTMs have the potential to modulate the interactions between beta-MHC and other regulatory sarcomeric proteins, as well as ADP-release rate of myosin, flexibility of S2 fragment, and cardiac myofilament contractility under normal and heart failure condition.

BAC contig from a 3-cM region of mouse chromosome 11 surrounding Brca1

Even with the completion of a draft version of the human genome sequence only a fraction of the genes identified from this sequence have known functions. Chromosomal engineering in mouse cells, in concert with gene replacement assays to prove the functional significance of a given genomic region or gene, represents a rapid and productive means for understanding the role of a given set of genes. Both techniques rely heavily on detailed maps of chromosomal regions, initially to understand the scope of the regions being modified and finally to provide the cloned resources necessary to allow both finished sequencing and large insert complementation. This report describes the creation of a BAC clone contig on mouse chromosome 11 in a region showing conservation of synteny with sequences on human chromosome 17. We have created a detailed map of an approximately 3-cM region containing at least 33 genes through the use of multiple BAC mapping strategies, including chromosome walking and multiplex oligonucleotide hybridization and gap filling. The region described is one of the targets of a large effort to create a series of mice with regional deletions on mouse chromosome 11 (33-80 cM) that can subsequently be subjected to further mutagenesis.

Fine mapping of MEP1A, the gene encoding the alpha subunit of the metalloendopeptidase meprin, to human chromosome 6P21

Meprins are kidney and intestinal proteases encoded by two distinct genes, MEP1A and MEP1B. MEP1A was previously mapped to human chromosome 6p, by the use of radiation and somatic cell hybrids, in the region containing the gene for autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD). We now report the fine mapping of MEP1A using yeast artificial chromosome clones, and linkage analysis of ARPKD families. The results from both physical and genetic mapping exclude MEP1A as a candidate for ARPKD. These studies place MEP1A in a region more telomeric to 6p12 and closer to the HLA loci than previously reported. More specifically, MEP1A is localized between loci D6S272 and D6S282, close to D6S452, on human chromosome 6p21.2-p21.1. The more precise location of MEP1A will facilitate genetic studies of this locus and clarify the relation of this gene to others.