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The roles of troponin C isoforms in the mechanical function of Drosophila indirect flight muscle

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Abstract

Stretch activation (SA) is a fundamental property of all muscle types that increases power output and efficiency, yet its mechanism is unknown. Recently, studies have implicated troponin isoforms as important in the SA mechanism. The highly stretch-activated Drosophila IFMs express two isoforms of the Ca2+-binding subunit of troponin (TnC). TnC1 (TnC-F2 in Lethocerus IFM) has two calcium binding sites, while an unusual isoform, TnC4 (TnC-F1 in Lethocerus IFM), has only one binding site. We investigated the roles of these two TnC isoforms in Drosophila IFM by targeting RNAi to each isoform. IFMs with TnC4 expression (normally ~90 % of total TnC) replaced by TnC1 did not generate isometric tension, power or display SA. However, TnC4 knockdown resulted in sarcomere ultrastructure disarray, which could explain the lack of mechanical function and thus make interpretation of the influence of TnC4 on SA difficult. Elimination of TnC1 expression (normally ~10 % of total TnC) by RNAi resulted in normal muscle structure. In these IFMs, fiber power generation, isometric tension, stretch-activated force and calcium sensitivity were statistically identical to wild type. When TnC1 RNAi was driven by an IFM specific driver, there was no decrease in flight ability or wing beat frequency, which supports our mechanical findings suggesting that TnC1 is not essential for the mechanical function of Drosophila IFM. This finding contrasts with previous work in Lethocerus IFM showing TnC1 is essential for maximum isometric force generation. We propose that differences in TnC1 function in Lethocerus and Drosophila contribute to the ~40-fold difference in IFM isometric tension generated between these species.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Friederike Thiele (an Erasmus student, Department of Biology, University of York) for help with fluorescence and electron microscopy. We also thank Drs Upendra Nongthomba and John Sparrow for the UH3-GAL4 fly line, and Dr. John Sparrow for performing fly crosses. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health R01 AR055611 to D.M.S. A.K. was supported by a European Union FP6 Network of Excellence grant, MYORES. C.C.E. was supported by NIGMS Biomolecular Science and Engineering Training Grant 5T32GM067545.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology & Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180, USA

    Catherine C. Eldred, Monica Patel & Douglas M. Swank

  2. Department of Biology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Anja Katzemich & Belinda Bullard

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  1. Catherine C. Eldred
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  2. Anja Katzemich
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Correspondence to Douglas M. Swank.

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Catherine C. Eldred and Anja Katzemich have contributed equally to this work.

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Eldred, C.C., Katzemich, A., Patel, M. et al. The roles of troponin C isoforms in the mechanical function of Drosophila indirect flight muscle. J Muscle Res Cell Motil 35, 211–223 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10974-014-9387-8

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