H. Sorimachi et al., TISSUE-SPECIFIC EXPRESSION AND ALPHA-ACTININ BINDING-PROPERTIES OF THE Z-DISC TITIN - IMPLICATIONS FOR THE NATURE OF VERTEBRATE Z-DISCS, Journal of Molecular Biology, 270(5), 1997, pp. 688-695
Titins are giant filamentous proteins which connect Z-discs and M-line
s in the sarcomeres of vertebrate striated muscles. Comparison of the
N-terminal region of titin (Z-disc region) from different skeletal and
cardiac muscles reveals a 900-residue segment which is expressed in d
ifferent length variants, dependent on tissue type. When searching for
ligands of this differentially expressed domain by a yeast-two hybrid
approach, we detected binding to alpha-actinin. The isolated alpha-ac
tinin cDNAs were derived from the C-terminal region of the alpha-actin
in isoform (alpha actinin-2) encoded by the ACTN2 gene. Therefore, the
two antiparallel subunits of an alpha-actinin-2 homodimer will attach
to actin at their respective C termini, whereas they will bind to the
Z-disc titin at their N termini. This may thus explain how alpha-acti
nins can cross-link antiparallel titin and thin filaments from opposin
g sarcomeres. The alpha-actinin-2 binding site of the Z-disc titin is
located within a sequence of 45-residue repeats, referred to as Z-repe
at region. Both the N-terminal and C-terminal Z-repeats have alpha-act
inin binding properties and are expressed in all striated muscles. By
contrast, the more central Z-repeats are expressed in slow and fast sk
eletal muscles, as well as embryonic and adult cardiac muscles, in dif
ferent copy numbers. Such alternative splicing of the Z-disc titin app
ears to be important for the tissue and fibre type diversity of the Z-
disc lattice. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.