Interaction of Myosin Subfragment-1 with Actin

Abstract

To determine the reason why the Mg²⁺-ATPase activity of subfragment-1 prepared with chymotrypsin was activated more by actin than that of subfragment-1 prepared with trypsin was and the reason why the former could enhance the polymerization of actin and the latter could not, we digested subfragment-1, prepared with chymotrypsin, with trypsin and examined the actin activated Mg²⁺-ATPase activity and the ability to polymerize actin. It was found that cleavage of the heavy chain decreased the actin activated Mg²⁺-ATPase activity of subfragment-1 prepared with chymotrypin but did not affect its ability to polymerize actin. Trypsin attacked the subfragment-1 heavy chain at two sites and produced 26 K, 50 K, and 21 K fragments.From the comparison of the time course of tryptic digestion with that of the decrease in actin activation, it was deduced that cleavage of the 50 K-21 K junction was mainly responsible for the decrease in actin activation. We also measured the length and the amount of F-actin polymerized by the addition of different amounts of subfragment-1. It was found that the amount of F-actin increased with the increase in the amount of subfragment-1.added and that the length of F-actin also increased though slightly. We concluded from the results that subfragment-1 enhanced the polymerization not only by facilitating the nucleus formation but also by strengthening the bond between actin monomers in forming F-actin.