Interplay between the protein kinase C (PKC)-mediated phosphorylation of troponin T (TnT)- and myosin heavy chain (MHC)-mediated effects on thin filaments takes on a new significance because: (1) there is significant interaction between the TnT- and MHC-mediated effects on cardiac thin filaments; (2) although the phosphorylation of TnT by PKC isoforms is common to both human and rodent hearts, human hearts predominantly express β-MHC while rodent hearts predominantly express α-MHC. Therefore, we tested how α- and β-MHC isoforms differently affected the functional effects of phosphorylated TnT. Contractile measurements were made on cardiac muscle fibers from normal rats (α-MHC) and propylthiouracil-treated rats (β-MHC), reconstituted with the recombinant phosphomimetic-TnT (T204E; threonine 204 replaced by glutamate). Ca2+ -activated maximal tension decreased differently in α-MHC + T204E (~68%) and β-MHC + T204E (~35%). However, myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity decreased similarly in α-MHC + T204E and β-MHC + T204E, demonstrating that a decrease in Ca2+ sensitivity alone cannot explain the greater attenuation of tension in α-MHC + T204E. Interestingly, dynamic contractile parameters (rates of tension redevelopment, crossbridge (XB) recruitment dynamics, XB distortion dynamics, and XB detachment kinetics) decreased only in α-MHC + T204E. Thus, the transition of thin filaments from the blocked- to closed-state was attenuated in α-MHC + T204E and β-MHC + T204E, but the closed- to open-state transition was attenuated only in α-MHC + T204E. Our study demonstrates that the effects of phosphorylated TnT and MHC isoforms interact to bring about different functional states of cardiac thin filaments.

The functional significance of the molecular swivel at the head-to-tail overlapping ends of contiguous tropomyosin (Tm) dimers in striated muscle is unknown. Contractile measurements were made in muscle fibers from transgenic (TG) mouse hearts that expressed a mutant α-Tm (Tm(H276N)). We also reconstituted mouse cardiac troponin T (McTnT) N-terminal deletion mutants, McTnT(1-44Δ) and McTnT(45-74Δ), into muscle fibers from Tm(H276N). For controls, we used the wild-type (WT) McTnT because altered effects could be correlated with the mutant forms of McTnT. Tm(H276N) slowed crossbridge (XB) detachment rate (g) by 19%. McTnT(1-44Δ) attenuated Ca(2+)-activated maximal tension against Tm(WT) (36%) and Tm(H276N) (38%), but sped g only against Tm(H276N) by 35%. The rate of tension redevelopment decreased (17%) only in McTnT(1-44Δ) + Tm(H276N) fibers. McTnT(45-74Δ) attenuated tension (19%) and myofilament Ca(2+) sensitivity (pCa50=5.93 vs. 6.00 in the control fibers) against Tm(H276N), but not against Tm(WT) background. Thus, altered XB cycling kinetics decreased the fraction of strongly bound XBs in McTnT(1-44Δ) + Tm(H276N) fibers, whereas diminished thin-filament cooperativity attenuated tension in McTnT(45-74Δ) + Tm(H276N) fibers. In summary, our study is the first to show that the interplay between the N terminus of cTnT and the overlapping ends of contiguous Tm effectuates different states of Tm on the actin filament.

The role of cardiac myosin essential light chain (ELC) in the sarcomere length (SL) dependency of myofilament contractility is unknown. Therefore, mechanical and dynamic contractile properties were measured at SL 1.9 and 2.2 μm in cardiac muscle fibers from two groups of transgenic (Tg) mice: 1) Tg-wild-type (WT) mice that expressed WT human ventricular ELC and 2) Tg-Δ43 mice that expressed a mutant ELC lacking 1-43 amino acids. In agreement with previous studies, Ca(2+)-activated maximal tension decreased significantly in Tg-Δ43 fibers. pCa(50) (-log(10) [Ca(2+)](free) required for half maximal activation) values at SL of 1.9 μm were 5.64 ± 0.02 and 5.70 ± 0.02 in Tg-WT and Tg-Δ43 fibers, respectively. pCa(50) values at SL of 2.2 μm were 5.70 ± 0.01 and 5.71 ± 0.01 in Tg-WT and Tg-Δ43 fibers, respectively. The SL-mediated increase in the pCa(50) value was statistically significant only in Tg-WT fibers (P < 0.01), indicating that the SL dependency of myofilament Ca(2+) sensitivity was blunted in Tg-Δ43 fibers. The SL dependency of cross-bridge (XB) detachment kinetics was also blunted in Tg-Δ43 fibers because the decrease in XB detachment kinetics was significant (P < 0.001) only at SL 1.9 μm. Thus the increased XB dwell time at the short SL augments Ca(2+) sensitivity at short SL and thus blunts SL-mediated increase in myofilament Ca(2+) sensitivity. Our data suggest that the NH(2)-terminal extension of cardiac ELC not only augments the amplitude of force generation, but it also may play a role in mediating the SL dependency of XB detachment kinetics and myofilament Ca(2+) sensitivity.

Failing hearts of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)-patients reveal systolic dysfunction and upregulation of several Protein Kinase C (PKC) isoforms. Recently, we demonstrated that the functional effects of T204E, a PKC phosphomimic of cardiac troponin T (TnT), were differently modulated by α- and β-myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms. Therefore, we hypothesized that the interplay between the effects of T204E and a DCM-linked mutation (K211Δ or R206W) in TnT would modulate contractile parameters linked-to systolic function in an MHC-dependent manner. To test our hypothesis, five TnT variants (wildtype, K211Δ, K211Δ + T204E, R206W, and R206W + T204E) were generated and individually reconstituted into demembranated cardiac muscle fibers from normal (α-MHC) and propylthiouracil-treated (β-MHC) rats. Steady-state and mechano-dynamic measurements were performed on reconstituted fibers. Myofilament Ca(2+) sensitivity (pCa50) was decreased by both K211Δ and R206W to a greater extent in α-MHC fibers (~0.15 pCa units) than in β-MHC fibers (~0.06 pCa units). However, T204E exacerbated the attenuating influence of both mutants on pCa50 only in β-MHC fibers. Moreover, the magnitude of muscle length (ML)-mediated crossbridge (XB) recruitment was decreased by K211Δ + T204E (~47 %), R206W (~34 %), and R206W + T204E (~36 %) only in β-MHC fibers. In relevance to human hearts, which predominantly express β-MHC, our data suggest that the interplay between the effects of DCM mutations, PKC phosphomimic in TnT, and β-MHC lead to systolic dysfunction by attenuating pCa50 and the magnitude of ML-mediated XB recruitment.