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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Identification of the gene for fly non-muscle myosin heavy chain: Drosophila myosin heavy chains are encoded by a gene family.

In contrast to vertebrate species Drosophila has a single myosin heavy chain gene that apparently encodes all sarcomeric heavy chain polypeptides. Flies also contain a cytoplasmic myosin heavy chain polypeptide that by immunological and peptide mapping criteria is clearly different from the major thoracic muscle isoform. Here, we identify the gene that encodes this cytoplasmic isoform and demonstrate that it is distinct from the muscle myosin heavy chain gene. Thus, fly myosin heavy chains are the products of a gene family. Our data suggest that the contractile function required to power myosin based movement in non-muscle cells requires myosin diversity beyond that available in a single heavy chain gene. In addition, we show, that accumulation of cytoplasmic myosin transcripts is regulated in a developmental stage specific fashion, consistent with a key role for this protein in the movements of early embryogenesis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1982

The genes coding for the muscle contractile proteins, myosin heavy chain, myosin light chain 2, and skeletal muscle actin are located on three different mouse chromosomes.

The chromosomal distribution of murine genes expressed during differentiation of skeletal muscle cells was determined by Southern blot analysis of DNA from mouse-Chinese hamster hybrid cell lines containing incomplete subsets of mouse chromosomes. All detectable myosin heavy chain genes are located on chromosome 11. The gene for the myosin light chain 2 is located on chromosome 7. The skeletal muscle alpha-actin gene and several other actin genes, or pseudogenes, are located on chromosome 3. Additional actin DNA sequences are distributed on other mouse chromosomes.

Actins↗
PubMed1984

Effect of creatine on contents of myosin heavy chain and myosin-heavy-chain mRNA in steady-state chicken muscle-cell cultures.

Embryonic-chick muscle cells reach a steady state with respect to protein metabolism after approx. 1 week in cell culture. To determine if this steady state could be altered by the administration of agents that have been reported to stimulate myosin heavy-chain synthesis, 7-day muscle-cell cultures were treated with 0-1 mM-creatine. Incorporation of [3H]leucine into myosin heavy chain was stimulated by 30-40% at the optimum creatine concentration (0.2 mM), but this stimulation was blocked when actinomycin D (10 micrograms/ml) was also present. However, the quantity of myosin-heavy-chain mRNA as measured by hybridization in vitro was only 15% higher in creatine-treated cultures, and was therefore not entirely responsible for the observed effect. It is important to note that creatine only exerted its action on myosin-heavy-chain synthesis rate in steady-state cultures; creatine was ineffective in altering this rate in rapidly differentiating 3-day muscle cultures. Finally, muscle-cell cultures that had been grown for the entire 7-day culture period in the presence of 0.2 mM-creatine were assayed for quantity of myosin heavy chain. Control and creatine-treated cultures contained 12.7 +/- 1.5 and 20.5 +/- 1.8 micrograms/dish respectively. In conclusion, creatine apparently enhances the quantity of myosin heavy chain in steady-state embryonic muscle-cell cultures, but it probably does not mediate regulation of myosin content in adult skeletal muscle.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Coexpression and assembly of myosin heavy chain and myosin light chain in Escherichia coli.

A fragment of the Dictyostelium discoideum myosin heavy chain gene representing heavy meromyosin was coexpressed in Escherichia coli with the entire essential myosin light chain from the scallop. The expressed myosin heavy chain and essential myosin light chain copurify through ammonium sulfate fractionation, anion exchange, and gel filtration chromatography. The purified complex consists of about 1 mol of light chain per mol of heavy chain. This stoichiometry, which is that of native myosin, suggests that no special eukaryotic machinery is required for coassembly of these two proteins. By coexpressing different myosin heavy chain and myosin light chain combinations, it should be possible to study various isoforms of these two proteins, which are both products of multigene families in mammals. E. coli is thus an ideal system in which to study expression and multimeric assembly of individual components of the eukaryotic contractile apparatus.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2000

Coevolution of head, neck, and tail domains of myosin heavy chains.

Myosins, a large family of actin-based motors, have one or two heavy chains with one or more light chains associated with each heavy chain. The heavy chains have a (generally) N-terminal head domain with an ATPase and actin-binding site, followed by a neck domain to which the light chains bind, and a C-terminal tail domain through which the heavy chains self-associate and/or bind the myosin to its cargo. Approximately 140 members of the myosin superfamily have been grouped into 17 classes based on the sequences of their head domains. I now show that a phylogenetic tree based on the sequences of the combined neck and tail domains groups 144 myosins, with a few exceptions, into the same 17 classes. For the nine myosin classes that have multiple members, phylogenetic trees based on the head domain or the combined neck/tail domains are either identical or very similar. For class II myosins, very similar phylogenetic trees are obtained for the head, neck, and tail domains of 47 heavy chains and for 29 essential light chains and 19 regulatory light chains. These data strongly suggest that the head, neck, and tail domains of all myosin heavy chains, and light chains at least of class II myosins, have coevolved and are likely to be functionally interdependent, consistent with biochemical evidence showing that regulated actin-dependent MgATPase activity of Dictyostelium myosin II requires isoform specific interactions between the heavy chain head and tail and light chains.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Caenorhabditis elegans UNC-45 is a component of muscle thick filaments and colocalizes with myosin heavy chain B, but not myosin heavy chain A.

In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, animals mutant in the gene encoding the protein product of the unc-45 gene (UNC-45) have disorganized muscle thick filaments in body wall muscles. Although UNC-45 contains tetratricopeptide repeats (TPR) as well as limited similarity to fungal proteins, no biochemical role has yet been found. UNC-45 reporters are expressed exclusively in muscle cells, and a functional reporter fusion is localized in the body wall muscles in a pattern identical to thick filament A-bands. UNC-45 colocalizes with myosin heavy chain (MHC) B in wild-type worms as well as in temperature-sensitive (ts) unc-45 mutants, but not in a mutant in which MHC B is absent. Surprisingly, UNC-45 localization is also not seen in MHC B mutants, in which the level of MHC A is increased, resulting in near-normal muscle thick filament structure. Thus, filament assembly can be independent of UNC-45. UNC-45 shows a localization pattern identical to and dependent on MHC B and a function that appears to be MHC B-dependent. We propose that UNC-45 is a peripheral component of muscle thick filaments due to its localization with MHC B. The role of UNC-45 in thick filament assembly seems restricted to a cofactor for assembly or stabilization of MHC B.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Isoenergetic dietary protein restriction decreases myosin heavy chain IIx fraction and myosin heavy chain production in humans.

The synthesis of muscle protein is restrained during dietary protein restriction. This is widely understood to vary quantitatively with the degree of nutritional deprivation, but there has been little discussion of qualitative changes in muscle protein deriving from dietary protein restriction. We studied 14 healthy subjects in a 2-sample study. Subjects were randomly assigned to a diet providing an ample, American-style protein intake (1.67 g. kg fat-free mass(-1). d(-1)) or a diet approximating the mean minimum adult protein requirement (0.71 g. kg fat-free mass(-1). d(-1)). We found that consumption of an isoenergetic diet at the mean adult minimum protein requirement for 4 wk produced an 81% lower fractional synthesis rate of myosin heavy chain (MHC) proteins in vastus lateralis muscle than did consumption of an ample protein diet (P = 0.05). Protein deprivation altered the skeletal muscle myosin composition such that the proportion of the total myosin content represented by fast-twitch MHC IIx was 51% lower than with ample intake (P = 0.013). The steady state content of MHC IIx messenger RNA (mRNA) did not differ in subjects consuming the minimum requirement of protein, suggesting that the reduced proportion of MHC IIx arises from posttranscriptional events. A 68% lower rate of 3-methylhistidine excretion with protein restriction (P < 0.01) suggests that myofibrillar protein degradation was lower. We conclude that dietary amino acid scarcity produces a change in myosin isoform distribution via posttranscriptional mechanisms. The relative contribution of inhibited myosin synthesis and inhibited degradation to the altered myosin isoform composition remains unknown. This has implications for the mechanisms by which amino acids govern muscle protein composition in vivo, and further exploration is required.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Correlation between the clinical phenotype of MYH9-related disease and tissue distribution of class II nonmuscle myosin heavy chains.

Nonmuscle myosin heavy chain II-A is responsible for MYH9-related disease, which is characterized by macrothrombocytopenia, granulocyte inclusions, deafness, cataracts, and renal failure. Since another two highly conserved nonmuscle myosins, II-B and II-C, are known, an analysis of their tissue distribution is fundamental for the understanding of their biological roles. In mouse, we found that all forms are ubiquitously expressed. However, megakaryocytic and granulocytic lineages express only II-A, suggesting that congenital features, macrothrombocytopenia, and leukocyte inclusions correlate with its exclusive presence. In kidney, eye, and ear, where clinical manifestations have a late onset, as well as in other tissues apparently not affected in patients, II-A and at least one of the other two isoforms are expressed, suggesting that II-B and II-C can partially compensate for each other. We hypothesize that cells expressing only II-A manifest the congenital defects, while tissues expressing additional myosin II isoforms show either late onset of abnormalities or no pathological sign.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Characterization of sarcomeric myosin heavy chain genes.

Myosin heavy chain is encoded by a large multigene family. Using pMHC-25, a recombinant cDNA clone isolated from the rat myogenic cell line L6E9, four members of this family in the rat have been isolated and shown to be tissue-specific and developmentally regulated. The coding regions of these genes share regions of homology interspaced with regions of non-homology. Detailed analysis of one embryonic and one adult myosin heavy chain gene shows that the coding sequences are interrupted by numerous intervening sequences whose number, size, and distribution do not appear to be conserved in the same organism or between species.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Characterization of cDNA coding for the complete light meromyosin portion of a rabbit fast skeletal muscle myosin heavy chain.

Myosin-heavy-chain-specific cDNA clones have been isolated from a cDNA library prepared from hind leg muscle of a 14-day-old rabbit. According to restriction enzyme analysis these can be grouped into at least two, probably three different classes. RNA dot-blot hybridization shows that all of these clones correspond to mRNAs expressed in fast skeletal muscle. The clones of the most abundant form, class I, can be aligned to cover the complete light meromyosin portion of myosin heavy chain. The sequence of the coding and the 3'-untranslated region, together comprising 2143 base pairs, has been determined. The class I clone detects a multigene family of 8-12 members on a Southern blot of rabbit genomic DNA.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2005

Developmental expression and comparative genomic analysis of Xenopus cardiac myosin heavy chain genes.

Myosin heavy chains (MHC) are cytoskeletal motor proteins essential to the process of muscle contraction. We have determined the complete sequences of the Xenopus cardiac MHC genes, alpha-MHC and ventricular MHC (vMHC), and have characterized their developmental expression profiles. Whereas alpha-MHC is expressed from the earliest stages of cardiac differentiation, vMHC transcripts are not detected until the heart has undergone chamber formation. Early expression of vMHC appears to mark the cardiac conduction system, but expression expands to include the ventricle and outflow tract myocardium during subsequent development. Sequence comparisons, transgenic expression analysis, and comparative genomic studies indicate that Xenopus alpha-MHC is the true orthologue of the mammalian alpha-MHC gene. On the other hand, we show that the Xenopus vMHC gene is most closely related to chicken ventricular MHC (vMHC1) not the mammalian beta-MHC. Comparative genomic analysis has allowed the detection of a mammalian MHC gene (MyH15) that appears to be the orthologue of vMHC, but evidence suggests that this gene is no longer active.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2006

A molecular screening strategy based on beta-myosin heavy chain, cardiac myosin binding protein C and troponin T genes in Italian patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND: Mutations causing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) have been described in nine different genes of the sarcomere. Three genes account for most known mutations: beta-myosin heavy chain (MYH7), cardiac myosin binding protein C (MYBPC3) and cardiac troponin T (TNNT2). Their prevalence in Italian HCM patients is unknown. Thus, we prospectively assessed a molecular screening strategy of these three genes in a consecutive population with HCM from two Italian centres. METHODS: Comprehensive screening of MYBPC3, MYH7 and TNNT2 was performed in 88 unrelated HCM patients by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography and automatic sequencing. RESULTS: We identified 32 mutations in 50 patients (57%); 16 were novel. The prevalence rates for MYBPC3, MYH7 and TNNT2 were 32%, 17% and 2%, respectively. MYBPC3 mutations were 18, including two frameshift, five splice-site and two nonsense. All were 'private' except insC1065 and R502Q, present in three and two patients, respectively. Moreover, E258K was found in 14% of patients, suggesting a founder effect. MYH7 mutations were 12, all missense; seven were novel. In TNNT2, only two mutations were found. In addition, five patients had a complex genotype [i.e. carried a double MYBPC3 mutation (n = 2), or were double heterozygous for mutations in MYBPC3 and MYH7 (n = 3)]. CONCLUSIONS: The first comprehensive evaluation of MYBPC3, MYH7 and TNNT2 in an Italian HCM population allowed a genetic diagnosis in 57% of the patients. These data support a combined analysis of the three major sarcomeric genes as a rational and cost-effective initial approach to the molecular screening of HCM.

Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic↗
PubMed1981

Trophic effect of a sciatic nerve extract on fast and slow myosin heavy chain synthesis.

Myosin heavy chain (MHC) synthesis in cultures from chick pectoralis muscle cells was determined by [35S]methionine incorporation. Two types of MHC, migrating as 200,000-dalton components on sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gels, were distinguished with antibodies against adult fast and slow MHC. Their synthesis was revealed by autoradiography. The effect of a sciatic nerve extract on the synthesis of the two types of MHC was also determined. Control experiments show that fast MHC is primarily synthesized in 48-h cultures. At a later stage of development (5- to 7-day cultures), slow MHC is also produced. The nerve extract promotes muscle cell differentiation and stimulates the synthesis of the slow type of MHC at an earlier stage of development (i.e., at 48 h as compared with 5-7 day in controlled cultures). It is concluded therefore that presumptive fast muscle cells in culture synthesize initially fast MHC and later both types of MHC (slow and fast). These results also suggest that the sciatic nerve extract is capable either of activating the transcription of the structural gene for slow MHC or of activating the translation of preexisting messenger RNA coding for this protein.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Three-dimensional compartmentalization of myosin heavy chain and myosin light chain isoforms in dog thyroarytenoid muscle.

The thyroarytenoid muscle, a vocal fold adductor, has important roles in airway protection (e.g., prevention of aspiration) and phonation. Isoform expression of myosin heavy chain (MHC), a major determinant of muscle-shortening velocity, has been reported to be heterogeneous in this muscle in several mammals, differing markedly between the medial and lateral divisions. The objective was to determine the isoform expression patterns of both MHC and myosin light chain (MLC), with the latter having a modulatory role in determining shortening velocity, to further test whether the expression of both myosin subunits differs in multiple specific sites within the divisions of the dog thyroarytenoid muscle, potentially revealing even greater compartmentalization in this muscle. Our results indicate the existence of large gradients in the relative levels of individual MHC isoforms in the craniocaudal axis along the medial layer (i.e., airflow axis), where levels of MHC-I and MHC-IIA are low at both ends of the axis and high in the middle and MHC-IIB has a reciprocal distribution. The lateral layer is more uniform, with high levels of MHC-IIB throughout. The level of MHC-IID is relatively constant along the axis in both layers. Large differences exist in the distribution of MHC isoforms among single fibers isolated from sites along the craniocaudal axis, especially in the lateral layer. Systematic regional variations are apparent in the MLC isoform composition of single fibers as well, including some MLC isoform combinations that are not observed in dog limb muscles. Variations of MHC and MLC isoform expression in the dog thyroarytenoid muscle are greater than previously recognized and suggest an even broader range of contractile properties within this multifunctional muscle.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Both the amino and carboxyl termini of Dictyostelium myosin essential light chain are required for binding to myosin heavy chain.

Dictyostelium myosin deficient in the essential light chain (ELC) does not function normally either in vivo or in vitro (Pollenz, R. S., Chen, T. L., Trivinos-Lagos, L., and Chisholm, R. L. (1992) Cell 69, 951-962). Since normal myosin function requires association of ELC, we investigated the domains of ELC that are necessary for binding to the myosin heavy chain (MHC). Deleting the NH2-terminal 11 or 28 amino acid residues (delta N11 or delta N28) or the COOH-terminal 15 amino acid residues (delta C15) abolished binding of the ELC to the MHC when the mutants were expressed in wild-type (WT) cells. In contrast, the ELC carrying deletion or insertion of four amino acid residues (D4 or I4) in the central linker segment bound the MHC in WT cells, although less efficient competition with WT ELC suggested that the affinity for the MHC is reduced. When these mutants were expressed in ELC-minus (mlcE-) cells, where the binding to the heavy chain is not dependent on efficient competition with the endogenous ELC, delta N28 and delta N11 bound to the MHC at 15% of WT levels and delta C15 did not bind to a significant degree. I4 and D4, however, bound with normal stoichiometry. These data indicate that residues at both termini of the ELC are required for association with the MHC, while the central linker domain appears to be less critical for binding. When the mutants were analyzed for their ability to complement the cytokinesis defect displayed by mlcE- cells, a correlation to the level of ELC carried by the MHC was observed, indicating that a stoichiometric ELC-MHC association is necessary for normal myosin function in vivo.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Expression of muscle-specific myosin heavy chain and myosin light chain 1 in the electric tissue of Electrophorus electricus (L.) in comparison with other vertebrate species.

Myosin light and heavy chains from skeletal and cardiac muscles and from the electric organ of Electrophorus electricus (L.) were characterised using biochemical and immunological methods, and compared with myosin extracted from avian, reptilian, and mammalian skeletal and cardiac muscles. The results indicate that the electric tissue has a myosin light chain 1 (LC1) and a muscle-specific myosin heavy chain. We also show that monoclonal antibody F109-12A8 (against LC1 and LC2) recognizes LC1 of myosin from human skeletal and cardiac muscles as well as those of rabbit, lizard, chick, and electric eel. However, only cardiac muscles from humans and rabbits have LC2, which is recognized by antibody F109-16F4. The data presented confirm the muscle origin of the electric tissue of E. electricus. This electric tissue has a profile of LC1 protein expression that resembles the myosin from cardiac muscle of the eel more than that from eel skeletal muscle. This work raises an interesting question about the ontogenesis and differentiation of the electric tissue of E. electricus.

Animals↗