Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent phosphorylation of the 100-kDa protein in chick embryonic muscle cells in culture

The pattern of protein phosphorylation was found to change in differentiating chick embryonic myoblasts in culture. The extent of phosphorylation of 42-, 50-, and 100-kDa proteins increased while that of a 63-kDa protein declined in extracts of myoblasts that had been cultured for increasing periods. Of these, the increase in phosphorylation of the 100-kDa protein occurred most dramatically in extracts of myoblasts in an early stage of differentiation and was specifically inhibited by trifluoperazine (TFP) and other calmodulin (CaM) antagonists including chlorpromazine and N-(6-aminohexyl)-5-chloro-1-naphthalene-sulfonamide (W-7). Treatment of increasing concentrations of TFP to culture medium also decreased the phosphorylation state of the 100-kDa protein and the degree of myoblast fusion in parallel. In addition, levels of both the kinase activity and the 100-kDa protein but not of CaM appeared to rise in the cells cultured for longer periods. These results suggest that (1) a Ca2+/CaM-dependent protein kinase is responsible for phosphorylation of the 100-kDa protein, (2) the TFP-mediated myoblast fusion block may be associated with the inhibitory effect of the drug against the kinase activity, and (3) the increase in phosphorylation state of the 100-kDa protein during myogenic differentiation is due to the rise in levels of the kinase and its substrate.