Microvilli isolated from 13762 mammary ascites tumor cells contain a major calcium-sensitive protein (AMV-p35) that can be isolated with microvillar microfilament cores prepared by Triton X-100 extraction in the presence but not absence of calcium. AMV-p35 can be readily purified from ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid extracts of the microfilament cores by chromatography on an anion exchange column, to which it does not bind. Immunoblot analysis indicates that AMV-p35 is related to calpactin I, the pp60src tyrosine kinase substrate. In the presence of calcium, AMV-p35 binds approximately 4 mol of chlorpromazine per mole of protein in a binding process showing apparent positive cooperativity, similar to calmodulin; however, in contrast to calmodulin, AMV-p35 also binds phenothiazine in the absence of calcium.

Microvilli isolated from the MAT-C1 ascites subline of the 13762 rat mammary adenocarcinoma contain a major calcium-sensitive microfilament-binding protein, AMV-p35 (ascites microvillar p35). Association of AMV-p35 with microfilament cores during Triton X-100 extraction of the microvilli is half-maximal at 0.1-0.2 mM calcium. The protein, which comprises 6% of the total microvillar protein, can be isolated from microfilament cores prepared in the presence of calcium by extraction with EGTA and purification by ion-exchange chromatography. Alternatively, the protein can be isolated from Triton extracts of microvilli prepared in the absence of calcium by precipitation with calcium, solubilization of the precipitate with EGTA, and chromatography on an ion-exchange column. AMV-p35 binds to phosphatidylserine liposomes and F-actin with half-maximal calcium concentrations of about 10 microM and 0.2 mM, respectively. Treatment of AMV-p35 with chymotrypsin yields a 33,000-dalton fragment, behavior similar to the tyrosine kinase substrates calpactins I and II and lipocortins I and II. Immunoblot analyses using antibodies directed against calpactin I, lipocortin I, and lipocortin II showed strong reactivity of AMV-p35 with anti-calpactin I and anti-lipocortin II, but little reactivity toward anti-lipocortin I. The close relationship between AMV-p35 and calpactin I was verified by amino acid sequence analyses of peptides isolated from cyanogen bromide digests of AMV-p35. By gel filtration and velocity sedimentation analyses purified AMV-p35 is a 35,000-dalton monomer. Moreover, AMV-p35 extracted directly from microvilli in Triton/EGTA also behaves as a 35,000-dalton menomer. These findings indicate that AMV-p35 is closely related to the pp60src kinase substrate calpactin I (p36). However, AMV-p35 occurs in the microvilli as a monomer rather than as the heterotetrameric calpactin found in several other cell types.