Distribution of polymorphic forms of troponin components and tropomyosin in skeletal muscle.

Specific antibodies have been used to show that in adult skeletal muscle the slow and fast forms of the components of the troponin complex are located in type I and type II fibres respectively. alpha-Tropomyosin is restricted to type II cells. During development, as a result of changes in innervation and in certain diseased stages, both the slow and fast polymorphic forms of the troponin components are present in the same cell.     

Crystal structure and molecular interactions of tropomyosin.

The three-dimensional structure of tropomyosin filaments has been determined by X-ray crystallography. The ends of the molecules were located by reference to the single pair of cysteine residues. Departures from the alpha-helical-coiled coil conformation may occur in localised domains along the molecule as well as at the overlapping ends.     

松墨天牛原肌球蛋白基因的克隆和表达检测

利用先前构建的cDNA文库和RACE方法,克隆了松墨天牛原肌球蛋白基因的cDNA全长,该序列长1 203 bp,命名为MaTm(GenBank登录号:KM099072),其中开放阅读框长852 bp,编码283个氨基酸.MaTm的氨基酸序列与赤拟谷盗 (Tribolium castaneum)相似性最高,为97%,与家蚕相似性 (Bombyx mori)为94%.松墨天牛与赤拟谷盗处在系统发育树的同一个分支上.用 RT-qPCR 分析了MaTm的相对表达量,结果显示:蛹和幼虫的表达量低于成虫;成虫足和头的表达量高于对照;在幼虫各组织中均有表达,且差异显著(p0.05),其中在体壁的表达量最高.     

Structure of the core domain of human cardiac troponin in the Ca(2+)-saturated form

Troponin is essential in Ca(2+) regulation of skeletal and cardiac muscle contraction. It consists of three subunits (TnT, TnC and TnI) and, together with tropomyosin, is located on the actin filament. Here we present crystal structures of the core domains (relative molecular mass of 46,000 and 52,000) of human cardiac troponin in the Ca(2+)-saturated form. Analysis of the four-molecule structures reveals that the core domain is further divided into structurally distinct subdomains that are connected by flexible linkers, making the entire molecule highly flexible. The alpha-helical coiled-coil formed between TnT and TnI is integrated in a rigid and asymmetric structure (about 80 angstrom long), the IT arm, which bridges putative tropomyosin-anchoring regions. The structures of the troponin ternary complex imply that Ca(2+) binding to the regulatory site of TnC removes the carboxy-terminal portion of TnI from actin, thereby altering the mobility and/or flexibility of troponin and tropomyosin on the actin filament.     

草鱼原肌球蛋白基因的克隆及其组织表达

为揭示原肌球蛋白基因在草鱼肌肉中的作用,利用RT-PCR和RACE技术克隆获得了草鱼原肌球蛋白基因c DNA,并对该基因在普通草鱼和脆肉鲩不同组织中的表达情况进行研究分析。结果表明原肌球蛋白基因c DNA全长序列为1 705 bp,包含387 bp的5′UTR序列,1 307 bp的3′UTR序列和855 bp开放阅读框(ORF)。其ORF编码284个氨基酸。系统进化分析表明普通草鱼与斑马鱼、墨西哥脂鲤的原肌球蛋白基因核苷酸同源性分别是93%和87%,氨基酸同源性分别是96%和93%。在聚类上普通草鱼原肌球蛋白基因与其他鲤科鱼类同源性较高,表明亲缘关系最近,与传统分类相一致。Real time-PCR结果表明原肌球蛋白基因在所检测的普通草鱼和脆肉鲩7个组织中均有表达,原肌球蛋白基因在普通草鱼腹肌中表达最高,其次为前肠。原肌球蛋白基因在脆肉鲩腹肌中的表达低于普通草鱼,而脆肉鲩中肌肉、肝脏、肾脏、前肠、后肠中原肌球蛋白基因表达量大于普通草鱼相对应组织,但差异不显著。     

一种提取和纯化肌钙蛋白C的新方法

肌钙蛋白Ⅰ是肌钙蛋白的一个亚基，它有３种异构体：快、慢骨骼肌肌钙蛋白Ⅰ和心肌肌钙蛋白Ⅰ。由于心肌肌钙蛋白Ⅰ具有极强的心脏特异性，因此引起众多学者的兴趣，研究检测患者血清内心肌肌钙蛋白Ⅰ的含量，来诊断急性心肌梗塞。利用肌钙蛋白Ｃ和肌钙蛋白Ⅰ的亲和层析来提取和纯化肌钙蛋白Ⅰ。建立了一种简单的肌钙蛋白Ｃ的提取和纯化方法，从兔肌１００ｇ中可提取肌钙蛋白Ｃ ７５ｍｇ，不仅高于以往研究结果（６０ｍｇ／１００ｇ兔肌），而且使实验周期缩短和实验操作大为简化。     

A human oncogene formed by the fusion of truncated tropomyosin and protein tyrosine kinase sequences

A biologically active complementary DNA clone of a transforming gene present in a human colon carcinoma contains gene sequences of both tropomyosin and a previously unknown protein tyrosine kinase. The predicted protein (641 amino acids) encoded by this oncogene seems to have been formed by a somatic rearrangement that replaced the extracellular domain of a putative transmembrane receptor by the first 221 amino acids of a non-muscle tropomyosin molecule.     

A new tropomyosin essential for cytokinesis in the fission yeast S. pombe.

Mutations in the Schizosaccharomyces pombe cdc8 gene impair cytokinesis. Here we clone cdc8+ and find that it encodes a novel tropomyosin. Gene disruption results in lethal arrest of the cell cycle, but spore germination, cell growth, DNA replication and mitosis are all unaffected. Haploid cdc8 gene disruptants are rescued by expression of a fibroblast tropomyosin complementary DNA. Immunofluorescence microscopy of wild type and cdc8 gene disruptants indicates that cdc8 tropomyosin is present in two distinct cellular distributions: in dispersed patches, and during cytokinesis as a transient medial band. Collectively these results indicate that cdc8 tropomyosin has a specialized role which, we suggest, is to form part of the F-actin contractile ring at cytokinesis. These results establish the basis for further genetic studies of cytokinesis and of contractile protein function in S. pombe.     

Probing the calcium-induced conformational transition of troponin C with site-directed mutants

The contraction of skeletal muscle is regulated by calcium binding to troponin C (TnC). TnC consists of two spatially independent domains, each of which contains two metal ion binding sites. Calcium binding to the regulatory sites of the N-terminal domain triggers muscle contraction by a series of conformational changes. Site-directed mutagenesis offers a means of elucidating the links in this signal path between TnC and actin-myosin crossbridges. Such mapping is possible if the mutants shift the equilibrium between 'on' and 'off' states of the regulatory complex while maintaining the coupling between calcium binding and tension development. Candidate amino-acid residues for yielding this information would be in positions remote from the calcium-binding sites and from the site of development of tension. Analysis of the crystal structure of TnC and of the model of the calcium-activated molecule has enabled us to identify two such residues: Glu 57 and Glu 88. In separate experiments we have replaced each of these residues by lysines. The resulting reduction in calcium affinity indicates that these residues have a long-range effect on calcium binding. This result may reflect the formation of a salt bridge between positions 57 and 88 that is not present in the native molecule. Moreover, the level of tension recovery when the mutants are incorporated into muscle suggests that the interaction between TnC and other muscle components has also been altered. Thus, these residues may participate in the contraction signal transmission.