title: The effect of Ca2+ on the structure of synthetic filaments of smooth muscle myosin.
abstract: Using electron microscopy and negative staining we have studied the effect of Ca2+ on the structure of synthetic filaments of chicken gizzard smooth muscle myosin under conditions applied by Frado and Craig (1989) for demonstration of the influence of Ca2+ on the structure of synthetic filaments of scallop striated muscle myosin. The results show that Ca2+ induces the transition of compact, ordered structure of filaments with a 14.5 nm axial repeat of the myosin heads close to the filament backbone (characteristic of the relaxing conditions) to a disordered structure with randomly arranged myosin heads together with subfragments-2 (S-2) seen at a distance of up to 50 nm from the filament backbone. This order/disorder transition is much more pronounced in filaments formed of unphosphorylated myosin, since a substantial fraction of phosphorylated filaments in the relaxing solution is already disordered due to phosphorylation. Under rigor conditions some of the filaments of unphosphorylated and phosphorylated myosin retain a certain degree of order resembling those under relaxing conditions, while most of them have a substantially disordered appearance. The results indicate that Ca2+-induced movement of myosin heads away from the filament backbone is an inherent property of smooth muscle myosin, like molluscan muscle myosin regulated exclusively by Ca2+ binding, and can play a modulatory role in smooth muscle contraction.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental and Theoretical Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Podlubnaya
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kulikova
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dabrowska
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002645:Chickens; D005895:Gizzard, Avian / Q000737:chemistry; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects; D009218:Myosins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010766:Phosphorylation
chemical_list: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D009218:Myosins; D002118:Calcium