Diseases of heart muscle, such as hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy, are often caused by mutations in proteins of the sarcomere, including actin, troponin, tropomyosin, and myosin. The molecular mechanisms of disease-causing mutations remain unclear because the process of cardiac muscle contraction and the corresponding mutational insults are incompletely defined. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms of cardiac muscle contraction, its regulation, and the effects of disease-causing mutations, the structures of sarcomeric protein assemblies must first be solved. In this dissertation we use interdisciplinary structural biology techniques, including cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), protein-protein docking, and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the interactions between actin, tropomyosin, and myosin. This structural work is foundational in identifying the molecular effects of mutations.
In the first project, we present a novel cryo-EM structure of the cardiac-isoform actomyosin-tropomyosin complex. This structure, which utilizes bovine masseter β-myosin, provides the foundation for understanding the molecular effects of cardiomyopathy-causing mutations that occur at the actomyosin interface. Furthermore, by pairing our structure with protein-protein docking methods and molecular dynamics simulations, we identify complementary and periodic electrostatic interactions between the myosin surface loop 4 and tropomyosin. We hypothesize that these interactions are essential in switching between contraction- and relaxation-mediating states.
In a follow up study, we test our myosin loop 4 hypotheses by creating a human cardiac β-myosin all-glycine loop 4 mutant, which abolishes nearly all electrostatic interactions between myosin and tropomyosin. After designing the mutant, we solve the cryo-EM structures of the wild-type and mutant actin-myosin-tropomyosin complexes to high resolution. Our structures confirm that the loop 4 mutant abolishes its interaction with tropomyosin and suggests that the tropomyosin cable on mutant actomyosin filaments is shifted to a new position. Subsequent molecular dynamics simulations corroborate our cryo-EM finding that tropomyosin on mutant actomyosin is displaced from the wild type position. Interaction energy calculations derived from these simulations suggest that the mutant position is significantly less stable than the wild-type. This work provides further evidence that loop 4 interactions are key in stabilizing tropomyosin position during contraction.
Finally, to extend our work on the human cardiac actomyosin-tropomyosin complex, we provide insights into the ADP release step of the cardiac β-myosin kinetic cycle. Here, we use a composite method of helical and single-particle cryo-EM reconstruction techniques to solve the structures of the human cardiac actin-myosin-tropomyosin filament in the presence and absence of ADP-Mg2+. This work elucidates the structural basis of cardiac β-myosin ADP release and provides insight into the force-sensing mechanism of the cardiac motor. Lastly, we use our structures to probe how cardiomyopathy-causing mutations potentially disrupt the ADP-to-rigor transition, leading to altered myosin contractility.
Overall, the structures solved in this dissertation generate fundamental understanding about the function of the cardiac thin filament and the motor protein, myosin. Moreover, this research provides a framework that connects the initial molecular insults of mutations to the disruption of proper regulation that leads to pathological progression. / 2023-08-24T00:00:00Z
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/45702 |
| Date | 25 February 2023 |
| Creators | Doran, Matthew H. |
| Contributors | Lehman, William |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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