Calcium-Dependent Myosin from Insect Flight Muscles

Abstract

Calcium regulation of the insect actomyosin ATPase is associated with the thin filaments as in vertebrate muscles, and also with the myosin molecule as in mollusks. This dual regulation is demonstrated using combinations of locust thin filaments with rabbit myosin and locust myosin with rabbit actin; in each case the ATPase of the hybrid actomyosin is calcium dependent. The two regulatory systems are synergistic, the calcium dependency of the locust actomyosin ATPase being at least 10 times that of the hybrid actomyosins described above. Likewise Lethocerus myosin also contains regulatory proteins. The ATPase activity of Lethocerus myosin is labile and is stabilized by the presence of rabbit actin. Tropomyosin activates the ATPase of insect actomyosin and the activation occurs irrespective of whether the myosin is calcium dependent or rendered independent of calcium.