DIFFERENT ACTIN AFFINITIES OF HUMAN CARDIAC ESSENTIAL MYOSIN LIGHT-CHAIN ISOFORMS

The N terminus of myosin light chain 1 (MLC-1) of skeletal muscle bind to the C terminus of actin. We investigated whether the N termini of human cardiac MLC-1 isoforms likewise bind to actin. Furthermore, we i nvestigated whether the N-terminal sequence 5-15 (P5-14) of MLC-1 of h uman atrium (ALC-1) and ventricle (VLC-1) bind with different affiniti es to actin. Affinity beads mere produced by covalently coupling a syn thetic peptide corresponding to the N-terminal sequence 4-14 of human VLC-1 to aminohexylagarose in order to bind G-actin. We found, that G- actin specifically binds to the affinity beads. Furthermore, preincuba tion of G-actin with P5-14 of both ALC-1 and VLC-1 decreased the amoun t of G-actin recovered from the affinity beads in a concentration-depe ndent manner. The half-maximal effective concentrations, however mere significantly (p < 0.01) different being 0.32 +/- 0.02 mu M and 0.71 /- 0.02 mu M for the VLC-1 and ALC-1 peptide, respectively. The approp riate scrambled peptides mere without effect up to 3 mu M These result s demonstrate the specific interaction between the N-terminal domains of human cardiac MLC-1 isoforms and actin and reveal different actin a ffinities of MLC-1 isoforms. Weak binding of ALC-I to actin could expl ain the higher cycling kinetics of cross-bridges with ALC-1 compared t o those with VLC-1. (C) 1997 Federation of European Biochemical Societ ies.