Molluscan smooth muscles, such as the bivalve adductor muscles and the mussel anterior byssus retractor muscles (ABRM), exhibit a unique contraction called “catch”. Catch contraction is regulated through twitchin phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. Twitchin from the ABRM of the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, is phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), and PKA phosphorylation sites are located in both the N- and C-terminal regions of the twitchin molecule. The D2 site, which is adjacently located to the C-terminus, participates in forming a myosin, actin, and twitchin complex that is thought to contribute towards the maintenance of tension in the catch state. In contrast, a... More
Molluscan smooth muscles, such as the bivalve adductor muscles and the mussel anterior byssus retractor muscles (ABRM), exhibit a unique contraction called “catch”. Catch contraction is regulated through twitchin phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. Twitchin from the ABRM of the Mediterranean mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis, is phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), and PKA phosphorylation sites are located in both the N- and C-terminal regions of the twitchin molecule. The D2 site, which is adjacently located to the C-terminus, participates in forming a myosin, actin, and twitchin complex that is thought to contribute towards the maintenance of tension in the catch state. In contrast, although it has been reported to interact with thin-filaments, the molecular function of the region including the D1 site has remained largely unstudied. Three additional PKA consensus sequences were identified near the D1 site; however, it was not known if these sites could be directly phosphorylated by PKA. Here, we performed phosphorylation assays to identify phosphorylation sites near the D1 site using recombinant protein variants (TWD1-SSSS, TWD1-AAAS, TWD1-AASA, TWD1-ASAA, TWD1-SAAA, and TWD1-AAAA). All variants, except TWD1-AAAA (where all phosphorylatable serine residues were replaced by alanines), were phosphorylated by PKA. The four phosphorylation sites were named D1-1, D1-2, D1-3, and D1-4 (the originally identified D1) in order from the N-terminus. Phosphorylation assays using a 1/12.5 weight ratio of PKA to each TWD1 variant revealed that D1-4 was the most rapidly phosphorylated, closely followed by D1-1. However, D1-2 and D1-3 were phosphorylated at a lower level under equivalent conditions and were not phosphorylated when PKA was incubated with each TWD1 variant at a 1/100 weight ratio. Furthermore, we observed that TWD1-SSSS was phosphorylated in a stepwise fashion. These findings contribute towards the elucidation of the function of the twitchin D1 region in the regulatory system of catch contraction.
