title: Thermal unfolding of Acanthamoeba myosin II and skeletal muscle myosin.
abstract: Studies on the thermal unfolding of monomeric Acanthamoeba myosin II and other myosins, in particular skeletal muscle myosin, using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) are reviewed. The unfolding transitions for intact myosin or its head fragment are irreversible, whereas those of the rod part and its fragments are completely reversible. Acanthamoeba myosin II unfolds with a high degree of cooperativity from ca. 40-45 degrees C at pH 7.5 in 0.6 M KCl, producing a single, sharp endotherm in DSC. In contrast, thermal transitions of rabbit skeletal muscle myosin occur over a broader temperature range (ca. 40-60 degrees C) under the same conditions. The DSC studies on the unfolding of the myosin rod and its fragments allow identification of cooperative domains, each of which unfolds according to a two-state mechanism. Also, DSC data show the effect of the nucleotide-induced conformational changes in the myosin head on the protein stability.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biochemistry, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zolkiewski
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Redowicz
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Korn
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ginsburg
mesh_terms: D000048:Acanthamoeba / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D006801:Humans; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry*; D009218:Myosins / Q000737:chemistry*; D017510:Protein Folding; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D009218:Myosins