title: Effect of mu-calpain on m-calpain.
abstract: The free Ca(2+) concentrations required for half-maximal proteolytic activity of m-calpain are in the range of 400-800 microM and are much higher than the 50-500 nM free Ca(2+) concentrations that exist in living cells. Consequently, a number of studies have attempted to find mechanisms that would lower the Ca(2+) concentration required for proteolytic activity of m-calpain. Although autolysis lowers the Ca(2+) concentration required for proteolytic activity of m-calpain, 90-400 microM Ca(2+) is required for a half-maximal rate of autolysis of m-calpain, even in the presence of phospholipid. It has been suggested that mu-calpain, which has a lower Ca(2+) requirement than m-calpain, might proteolyze m-calpain and reduce its Ca(2+) requirement to a level that would allow it to be active at physiological Ca(2+) concentrations. We have incubated m-calpain with mu-calpain for 60 min at a ratio of 1:50 mu-calpain:m-calpain, in the presence of 50 microM free Ca(2+); this Ca(2+) concentration is high enough for more than half-maximal activity of mu-calpain, but does not activate m-calpain. Under these conditions, mu-calpain caused no detectable proteolytic degradation of the m-calpain polypeptide and did not change the Ca(2+) concentration required for proteolytic activity of m-calpain. mu-Calpain also did not degrade the m-calpain polypeptide at 1000 microM Ca(2+), which is a Ca(2+) concentration high enough to completely activate m-calpain. It seems unlikely that mu-calpain could act as an "activator" of m-calpain in living cells. Because m-calpain rapidly degrades itself (autolyzes) at 1000 microM Ca(2+) and because the subsite specificities of mu- and m-calpain are very similar if not identical, failure of mu-calpain to rapidly degrade m-calpain at 1000 microM Ca(2+) suggests a unique role of autolysis in calpain function.
authors.affiliation: Muscle Biology Group, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. valery.thompson@arizona.edu
authors.forename: V F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lawson
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Goll
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001329:Autolysis; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D002154:Calpain / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002417:Cattle; D004789:Enzyme Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007700:Kinetics; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D002154:Calpain; D002118:Calcium