title: Calmodulin modulation of proteins involved in excitation-contraction coupling.
abstract: Muscle excitation-contraction coupling is, in large part, regulated by the activity of two proteins. These are the ryanodine receptor (RyR), which is an intracellular Ca2+ release channel and the dihydropyridine receptor (DHPR), which is a voltage gated L-type calcium channel. In skeletal muscle, the physical association between RyR1 and L-type Ca2+ channels is required for muscle excitation-contraction coupling. RyRs also regulate intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis, thereby contributing to a variety of cellular functions in different tissues. A wide variety of modulators directly regulate RyR1 activity and, consequentially, alter both excitation-contraction coupling and calcium homeostasis. Calmodulin, one of these cellular modulators, is a ubiquitously expressed 17 kDa Ca2+ binding protein containing four E-F hands, which binds to RyR1 at both nanomolar and micromolar Ca2+ concentrations. Apocalmodulin (Ca2+ free calmodulin) is a partial agonist, while Ca2+calmodulin is an inhibitor of RyR1. This conversion of calmodulin from an activator to an inhibitor is due to Ca2+ binding to the two C-terminal sites on calmodulin. Calmodulin can also modulate the L-type Ca2+ channel in the transverse tubule membrane, producing either inactivation or facilitation of the channel upon elevation of the local Ca2+ concentrations. Calmodulin binds to a region on RyR1 corresponding to amino acids 3614-3643 and to a region in the carboxy-terminal tail of the L-type Ca2+ channel (1 subunit. However, these calmodulin binding motifs on both proteins bind to undetermined motifs on the other protein, suggesting that they represent more general protein-protein interaction motifs. These findings raise questions about the role of calmodulin in excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Serap
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sencer
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hamilton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020746:Calcium Channels, L-Type / Q000502:physiology*; D002147:Calmodulin / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D019837:Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D020746:Calcium Channels, L-Type; D002147:Calmodulin; D019837:Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel