AUTHOR=Kazmierczak Katarzyna , Liang Jingsheng , Gomez-Guevara Michelle , Szczesna-Cordary Danuta TITLE=Functional comparison of phosphomimetic S15D and T160D mutants of myosin regulatory light chain exchanged in cardiac muscle preparations of HCM and WT mice JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine VOLUME=9 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2022.988066 DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2022.988066 ISSN=2297-055X ABSTRACT=

In this study, we investigated the rescue potential of two phosphomimetic mutants of the myosin regulatory light chain (RLC, MYL2 gene), S15D, and T160D RLCs. S15D-RLC mimics phosphorylation of the established serine-15 site of the human cardiac RLC. T160D-RLC mimics the phosphorylation of threonine-160, identified by computational analysis as a high-score phosphorylation site of myosin RLC. Cardiac myosin and left ventricular papillary muscle (LVPM) fibers were isolated from a previously generated model of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), Tg-R58Q, and Tg-wild-type (WT) mice. Muscle specimens were first depleted of endogenous RLC and then reconstituted with recombinant human cardiac S15D and T160D phosphomimetic RLCs. Preparations reconstituted with recombinant human cardiac WT-RLC and R58Q-RLC served as controls. Mouse myosins were then tested for the actin-activated myosin ATPase activity and LVPM fibers for the steady-state force development and Ca2+-sensitivity of force. The data showed that S15D-RLC significantly increased myosin ATPase activity compared with T160D-RLC or WT-RLC reconstituted preparations. The two S15D and T160D phosphomimetic RLCs were able to rescue Vmax of Tg-R58Q myosin reconstituted with recombinant R58Q-RLC, but the effect of S15D-RLC was more pronounced than T160D-RLC. Low tension observed for R58Q-RLC reconstituted LVPM from Tg-R58Q mice was equally rescued by both phosphomimetic RLCs. In the HCM Tg-R58Q myocardium, the S15D-RLC caused a shift from the super-relaxed (SRX) state to the disordered relaxed (DRX) state, and the number of heads readily available to interact with actin and produce force was increased. At the same time, T160D-RLC stabilized the SRX state at a level similar to R58Q-RLC reconstituted fibers. We report here on the functional superiority of the established S15 phospho-site of the human cardiac RLC vs. C-terminus T160-RLC, with S15D-RLC showing therapeutic potential in mitigating a non-canonical HCM behavior underlined by hypocontractile behavior of Tg-R58Q myocardium.