Calmodulin (CaM) is an essential eukaryotic calcium receptor that regulates many kinases, including CaMKII. Calcium-depleted CaM does not bind to CaMKII under physiological conditions. However, binding of (Ca 2+ ) 4 -CaM to a basic amphipathic helix in CaMKII releases auto-inhibition of the kinase. The crystal structure of CaM bound to CaMKIIp, a peptide representing the CaM-binding domain (CaMBD) of CaMKII, shows an anti-parallel interface: the C-domain of CaM primarily contacts the N-terminal half of the CaMBD. The two domains of calcium-saturated CaM are believed to play distinct roles in releasing auto-inhibition. To investigate the underlying mechanism of activation, calcium-dependent titrations of isolated domains of CaM binding to CaMKIIp were monitored using fluorescence anisotropy. The binding affinity of CaMKIIp for the domains of CaM increased upon saturation with calcium, with a 35-fold greater increase observed for the C-domain than the N-domain. Because the interdomain linker of CaM regulates calcium-binding affinity and contribute to conformational change, the role of each CaM domain was explored further by investigating effects of CaMKIIp on site-knockout mutants affecting the calcium-binding sites of a single domain. Investigation of the thermodynamic linkage between saturation of individual calcium-binding sites and CaM-domain binding to CaMKIIp showed that calcium binding to sites III and IV was sufficient to recapitulate the behavior of (Ca 2+ ) 4 -CaM. The magnitude of favorable interdomain cooperativity varied depending on which of the four calcium-binding sites were mutated, emphasizing differential regulatory roles for the domains of CaM, despite the high degree of homology among the four EFhands of CaM.
KeywordsThermodynamic; anisotropy; fluorescence; cooperativity; mutation; calcium binding Calmodulin (CaM) is a small (148 a.a.), ubiquitous calcium signaling protein that regulates the activities of many cellular proteins. It has four calcium-binding sites (I and II in the Ndomain, and III and IV in the C-domain; Fig. 1A). Favorable calcium binding depends on a glutamate at position 12 in each site, which provides bidentate coordination of the calcium ion 1-3 . Studies of a site IV mutant of CaM lowered the calcium-binding affinity in the Cdomain, but raised the affinity of the N-domain 4 . Mutagenesis and structural studies by Grabarek and coworkers emphasized the key role of the glutamate at position 12 in determining secondary and tertiary structure, as well as coordinating calcium 5 .Upon calcium binding to CaM, methionine-rich hydrophobic patches are exposed to solvent 6,7 , promoting association with the CaM-binding domain (CaMBD) of its target proteins 8- CaM-dependent kinase II (CaMKII) is a multifunctional serine/threonine kinase found in many tissue types with highly homologous α, β, and δ isoforms (for review, see 26 ). Activation of CaMKII contributes to synaptic plasticity and long-term potentiation (LTP) in the brain [26][27][28] , and normal and pathological condit...