Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T07:05:24.263Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A model of troponin-I in complex with troponin-C using hybrid experimental data: The inhibitory region is a β-hairpin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2000

CHANG-SHUNG TUNG
Affiliation:
Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
MICHAEL E. WALL
Affiliation:
Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
STEPHEN C. GALLAGHER
Affiliation:
Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
JILL TREWHELLA
Affiliation:
Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
Get access

Abstract

We present a model for the skeletal muscle troponin-C (TnC)/troponin-I (TnI) interaction, a critical molecular switch that is responsible for calcium-dependent regulation of the contractile mechanism. Despite concerted efforts by multiple groups for more than a decade, attempts to crystallize troponin-C in complex with troponin-I, or in the ternary troponin complex, have not yet delivered a high-resolution structure. Many groups have pursued different experimental strategies, such as X-ray crystallography, NMR, small-angle scattering, chemical cross-linking, and fluorescent resonance energy transfer (FRET) to gain insights into the nature of the TnC/TnI interaction. We have integrated the results of these experiments to develop a model of the TnC/TnI interaction, using an atomic model of TnC as a scaffold. The TnI sequence was fit to each of two alternate neutron scattering envelopes: one that winds about TnC in a left-handed sense (Model L), and another that winds about TnC in a right-handed sense (Model R). Information from crystallography and NMR experiments was used to define segments of the models. Tests show that both models are consistent with available cross-linking and FRET data. The inhibitory region TnI(95–114) is modeled as a flexible β-hairpin, and in both models it is localized to the same region on the central helix of TnC. The sequence of the inhibitory region is similar to that of a β-hairpin region of the actin-binding protein profilin. This similarity supports our model and suggests the possibility of using an available profilin/actin crystal structure to model the TnI/actin interaction. We propose that the β-hairpin is an important structural motif that communicates the Ca2+-activated troponin regulatory signal to actin.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2000 The Protein Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)