Abstract
In various skinned smooth muscle fiber preparations, (porcine carotid artery, rat tail artery, chicken gizzard and Taenia coli from guinea pig) a Ca2+-independent myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) initiated a contraction in absence of Ca2+. While the Ca2+ insensitive MLCK was effective on the vertebrate smooth muscles it did not act on the invertebrate skinned skeletal muscle preparation from Limulus and anterior byssus retractor muscle from Mytilus edulis. The results indicate that in vertebrate smooth muscles phosphorylation is sufficient for activation and that there is no obligatory role for an additional mechanism in initiation of contraction.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achazi RK (1982) Catch muscle. In: Basic Biology of Muscles: A comparative Approach. Eds. Twarog BM, Levine RJC, Dewey MM. Raven Press, New York, pp. 291–308
Barron JT, Barany M, Barany K, Storti RV (1980) Reversible phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of the 20,000 dalton light chain of myosin during the contraction-relaxation-contraction cycle of arterial smooth muscle. J Biol Chem 255:6238–6244
Cavadore JC, Molla A, Harricane MC, Gabrion J, Benyamin Y, Demaille JG (1982) Subcellular localization of myosin light chain kinase in skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscles. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 79:3475–3479
Dabrowska R, Hinkins S, Walsh MP, Hartshorne DJ (1982) The binding of smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase to actin. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 107:1524–1531
DiSalyo J, Gruenstein E, Silver P (1978) Ca2+ dependent phosphorylation of bovine aortic actomyosin. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 158:410–414
Driska SP, Aksoy MO, Murphy RA (1981) Myosin light chain phosphorylation associated with contraction in arterial smooth muscle. Am J Physiol 240:C222-C233
Ebashi S, Mikawa T, Hirata M, Toyo-oka T, Nonomura Y (1977) Regulatory proteins of smooth muscle. In: Excitation-contraction coupling in smooth muscle. Eds. Casteels R, Godfraind T, Rüegg JC. Elsevier/North Holland, Biomedical Press, Amsterdam, pp. 325–334
Gagelmann M, Mrwa U, Pfitzer G, Troschka M, Obst C, Herrmann R, Rüegg JC (1982) comparison of force and myosin light chain phosphorylation in skinned smooth muscle fibres from chicken gizzard. J Muscle Res Cell Mot 3:478
Gagelmann M, Güth K, Rüegg JC (1984) Stretch induced tension rise in a molluscan smooth muscle skinned by freeze drying. J Comp Physiol (in press)
Hartshorne DJ, Mrwa U (1982) Regulation of smooth muscle actomyosin. Blood Vessels 19:1–18
Jewell BR, Rüegg JC (1966) Oscillatory contraction of insect fibrillar muscle after glycerol extraction. Proc Roy Soc Lond (Biol) 164:428–459
Kerrick WGL, Bolles LL (1981) Regulation of Ca2+-activated tension in Limulus striated muscle. Pflügers Arch 392:121–124
Lehman W, Szent-Györgyi AG (1972) Activation of the adenosine triphosphatase of Limulus polyphemus actomyosin by tropomyosin. J Gen Physiol 59:375–387
Lehman W (1983) The ionic requirements for regulation by molluscan thin filaments. Biochim Biophys Acta 745:1–5
Marston SB, Trevett RM, Walters M (1980) Calcium ion-regulated thin filaments from vascular smooth muscle. Biochem J 185: 355–365
Peterson JW (1980) Vanadate ion inhibits actomyosin interaction in chemically skinned vascular smooth muscle. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 95:1846–1853
Rüegg JC, Paul RJ (1982) Calmodulin and cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase alter calcium sensitivity in porcine carotid skinned fibres. Circ Res 50:394–399
Sellers JR (1981) Phosphorylation-dependent regulation of Limulus myosin. J Biol Chem 256:9274–9278
Sparrow MP, Mrwa U, Hofmann F, Rüegg JC (1981) Calmodulin is essential for smooth muscle contraction. FEBS Lett 125:141–145
Walsh MP, Bridenbaugh R, Hartshorne DJ, Kerrick WGL (1982a) Phosphorylationdependent activated tension in skinned gizzard muscle fibers in the absence of Ca2+. J Biol Chem 257:5987–5990
Walsh MP, Dabrowska R, Hinkins S, Hartshorne DJ (1982b) Calcium- independent myosin light chain kinase of smooth muscle. Preparation by limited chymotryptic digestion of the calcium ion dependent enzyme, purification and characterization. Biochemistry 21:1919–1925
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gagelmann, M., Mrwa, U., Bostrom, S. et al. Effect of Ca2+-independent myosin light chain kinase on different skinned smooth muscle fibers. Pflugers Arch. 401, 107–109 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00581542
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00581542