Primary structure required for the inhibition of smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase

Myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) contains the autoinhibitor sequence right next to the N-terminus side of the calmodulin binding region. In this paper, the structural requirement of the inhibition of MLCK activity was studied using synthetic peptide analogs. Peptides Ala-783-Lys-799 and Ala-783-Arg-798 inhibited calmodulin independent MLCK at the same potency as the peptide Ala-783-Gly-804. Deletion of Arg-797-Lys-799 or substitution of these residues to Ala markedly increased the Ki while the substitution of Lys-792 and Lys-793 to Ala and the deletion of Lys-784-Lys-785 did not affect the inhibitory activity of the peptides. The results suggest that Arg-797-Arg-798 are especially important for the inhibitory activity among other basic residues in the autoinhibitory region.