Del R. Jackson

Biochemistry of smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase

The smooth muscle isoform of myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) is a Ca(2+)-calmodulin-activated kinase that is found in many tissues. It is particularly important for regulating smooth muscle contraction by phosphorylation of myosin. This review summarizes selected aspects of recent biochemical work on MLCK that pertains to its function in smooth muscle. In general, the focus of the review is on new findings, unresolved issues, and areas with the potential for high physiological significance that need further study. The review includes a concise summary of the structure, substrates, and enzyme activity, followed by a discussion of the factors that may limit the effective activity of MLCK in the muscle. The interactions of each of the many domains of MLCK with the proteins of the contractile apparatus, and the multi-domain interactions of MLCK that may control its behaviors in the cell are summarized. Finally, new in vitro approaches to studying the mechanism of phosphorylation of myosin are introduced.

The energetics of allosteric regulation of ADP release from myosin heads.

Myosin molecules are involved in a wide range of transport and contractile activities in cells. A single myosin head functions through its ATPase reaction as a force generator and as a mechanosensor, and when two or more myosin heads work together in moving along an actin filament, the interplay between these mechanisms contributes to collective myosin behaviors. For example, the interplay between force-generating and force-sensing mechanisms coordinates the two heads of a myosin V molecule in its hand-over-hand processive stepping along an actin filament. In muscle, it contributes to the Fenn effect and smooth muscle latch. In both examples, a key force-sensing mechanism is the regulation of ADP release via interhead forces that are generated upon actin-myosin binding. Here we present a model describing the mechanism of allosteric regulation of ADP release from myosin heads as a change, DeltaDeltaG(-D), in the standard free energy for ADP release that results from the work, Deltamicro(mech), performed by that myosin head upon ADP release, or DeltaDeltaG(-D) = Deltamicro(mech). We show that this model is consistent with previous measurements for strain-dependent kinetics of ADP release in both myosin V and muscle myosin II. The model makes explicit the energetic cost of accelerating ADP release, showing that acceleration of ADP release during myosin V processivity requires approximately 4 kT of energy whereas the energetic cost for accelerating ADP release in a myosin II-based actin motility assay is only approximately 0.4 kT. The model also predicts that the acceleration of ADP release involves a dissipation of interhead forces. To test this prediction, we use an in vitro motility assay to show that the acceleration of ADP release from both smooth and skeletal muscle myosin II correlates with a decrease in interhead force. Our analyses provide clear energetic constraints for models of the allosteric regulation of ADP release and provide novel, testable insights into muscle and myosin V function.

The myosin duty ratio tunes the calcium sensitivity and cooperative activation of the thin filament.

In striated muscle, calcium binding to the thin filament (TF) regulatory complex activates actin-myosin ATPase activity, and actin-myosin kinetics in turn regulates TF activation. However, a quantitative description of the effects of actin-myosin kinetics on the calcium sensitivity (pCa50) and cooperativity (nH) of TF activation is lacking. With the assumption that TF structural transitions and TF-myosin binding transitions are inextricably coupled, we advanced the principles established by Kad et al. [Kad, N., et al. (2005) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102, 16990-16995] and Sich et al. [Sich, N. M., et al. (2011) J. Biol. Chem. 285, 39150-39159] to develop a simple model of TF regulation, which predicts that pCa50 varies linearly with duty ratio and that nH is maximal near physiological duty ratios. Using in vitro motility to determine the calcium sensitivity of TF sliding velocities, we measured pCa50 and nH at different myosin densities and in the presence of ATPase inhibitors. The observed effects of myosin density and actin-myosin duty ratio on pCa50 and nH are consistent with our model predictions. In striated muscle, pCa50 must match cytosolic calcium concentrations and a maximal nH optimizes calcium responsiveness. Our results indicate that pCa50 and nH can be predictably tuned through TF-myosin ATPase kinetics and that drugs and disease states that alter ATPase kinetics can, through their effects on calcium sensitivity, alter the efficiency of muscle contraction.

Sucrose increases the activation energy barrier for actin-myosin strong binding.

To determine the mechanism by which sucrose slows in vitro actin sliding velocities, V, we used stopped flow kinetics and a single molecule binding assay, SiMBA. We observed that in the absence of ATP, sucrose (880mM) slowed the rate of actin-myosin (A-M) strong binding by 71±8% with a smaller inhibitory effect observed on spontaneous rigor dissociation (21±3%). Similarly, in the presence of ATP, sucrose slowed strong binding associated with Pi release by 85±9% with a smaller inhibitory effect on ATP-induced A-M dissociation, kT (39±2%). Sucrose had no noticeable effect on any other step in the ATPase reaction. In SiMBA, sucrose had a relatively small effect on the diffusion coefficient for actin fragments (25±2%), and with stopped flow we showed that sucrose increased the activation energy barrier for A-M strong binding by 37±3%, indicating that sucrose inhibits the rate of A-M strong binding by slowing bond formation more than diffusional searching. The inhibitory effects of sucrose on the rate of A-M rigor binding (71%) are comparable in magnitude to sucroses effects on both V (79±33% decrease) and maximal actin-activated ATPase, kcat, (81±16% decrease), indicating that the rate of A-M strong bond formation significantly influences both kcat and V.

Kinetics of myosin light chain kinase activation of smooth muscle myosin in an in vitro model system.

During activation of smooth muscle contraction, one myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) molecule rapidly phosphorylates many smooth muscle myosin (SMM) molecules, suggesting that muscle activation rates are influenced by the kinetics of MLCK-SMM interactions. To determine the rate-limiting step underlying activation of SMM by MLCK, we measured the kinetics of calcium-calmodulin (Ca²⁺CaM)-MLCK-mediated SMM phosphorylation and the corresponding initiation of SMM-based F-actin motility in an in vitro system with SMM attached to a coverslip surface. Fitting the time course of SMM phosphorylation to a kinetic model gave an initial phosphorylation rate, kp(o), of ~1.17 heads s⁻¹ MLCK⁻¹. Also, we measured the dwell time of single streptavidin-coated quantum dot-labeled MLCK molecules interacting with surface-attached SMM and phosphorylated SMM using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. From these data, the dissociation rate constant from phosphorylated SMM was 0.80 s⁻¹, which was similar to the kp(o) mentioned above and with rates measured in solution. This dissociation rate was essentially independent of the phosphorylation state of SMM. From calculations using our measured dissociation rates and Kd values, and estimates of SMM and MLCK concentrations in muscle, we predict that the dissociation of MLCK from phosphorylated SMM is rate-limiting and that the rate of the phosphorylation step is faster than this dissociation rate. Also, association with SMM (11-46 s⁻¹) would be much faster than with pSMM (<0.1-0.2 s⁻¹). This suggests that the probability of MLCK interacting with unphosphorylated versus phosphorylated SMM is 55-460 times greater. This would avoid sequestering MLCK to unproductive interactions with previously phosphorylated SMM, potentially leading to faster rates of phosphorylation in muscle.

The Effects of Ions and Water on Actin-Myosin Binding Energetics and Mechanics

Myosins discrete lever arm rotation upon strong actin binding is capable of generating large forces, but in ensemble myosin systems the average force generated by this transition is limited by the free energy for actin-myosin binding. Yet when looking for insights into mechanisms of muscle force generation, myosin structures are studied while factors that affect actin-myosin binding energetics are seldom considered. Here we use in vitro motility assays, AM binding assays, and stopped flow kinetics to study the effects of water and KCl on actin-myosin binding. First, we show that sucrose dramatically inhibits actin-myosin binding kinetics through a mechanism other than crowding or viscous damping, implying that sucrose has a desolvation effect. Second, we show that the effects of sucrose are ionic strength dependent, having little effect at low ionic strength. Our data support a simple model in which the strength of weak actin-myosin bonds is reduced by the shielding effect of ions, and sucrose enhances this effect possibly by displacing ordered waters around actin and myosin. Our data suggest that water solvation and ionic shielding may have a significant influence on muscle mechanics.