J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 261, Issue 17, 7778-7783, 06, 1986
Regulation of the actin-activated ATPase of aorta smooth muscle myosin
PD Wagner and ND Vu
Phosphorylation of the 20,000-Da light chains, LC20, of vertebrate smooth
muscle myosins is thought to be the primary mechanism for regulating the
actin-activated ATPase activities of these myosins and consequently smooth
muscle contraction. While actin stimulates the MgATPase activities of
phosphorylated smooth muscle myosins, it is generally believed that the
MgATPase activities of the unphosphorylated myosins are not stimulated by
actin. However, under conditions where both unphosphorylated (5%
phosphorylated LC20) and phosphorylated calf aorta myosins are mostly
filamentous, the maximum rate, Vmax, of the actin-activated ATPase of the
unphosphorylated myosin is one-half that of the phosphorylated myosin.
While LC20 phosphorylation causes only a modest increase in Vmax, in the
presence of tropomyosin, this phosphorylation does cause up to a 10-fold
decrease in Kapp, the actin concentration required to achieve 1/2 Vmax. In
the presence of low concentrations of tropomyosin/actin, a linear
relationship is obtained between the fraction of LC20 phosphorylated and
stimulation of the actin-activated ATPase. The relatively high
actin-activated ATPase activity of unphosphorylated aorta myosin suggests
that other proteins may be involved in the regulation of smooth muscle
contraction. In contrast to the results presented here for aorta myosin, it
has been reported that actin does not activate the MgATPase activity of
unphosphorylated gizzard myosin and that the actin-activated ATPase of
gizzard myosin increases more slowly than LC20 phosphorylation.