Decreased Ca2+-binding and Ca2+-ATPase activities in heart sarcolemma upon phospholipid methylation

Heart sarcolemma has been shown to possess three catalytic sites (I, II and III) for methyl transferase activity (Panagia V, Ganguly PK and Dhalla NS. Biochim Biophys Acta 792:245-253, 1984). In this study we examined the effect of phosphatidylethanolamine N-methylation on ATP-independent Ca2+ binding and ATPase activities in isolated rat heart sarcolemma. Both low affinity (1.25 mM Ca2+) and high affinity (50 microM Ca2+) Ca2+ binding activities were decreased following incubation of sarcolemmal membranes with AdoMet under optimal conditions for site II and III. Similarly, Ca2+ ATPase activities measured at 1.25 mM and 4 mM Ca2+ were depressed by phospholipid N-methylation. S-adenosyl homocysteine, a specific inhibitor of phospholipid N-methylation, prevented the depression of low affinity Ca2+ binding and Ca2+ ATPase activities, whereas the methylation-induced effect on the high affinity Ca2+ binding was not influenced by this agent. Pretreatment of sarcolemma with methyl acetimidate hydrochloride, an amino group blocking agent, also prevented the methylation-induced inhibition of both Ca2+ binding and Ca2+ ATPase. A further decrease in Ca2+ binding and Ca2+ ATPase activities together with a marked increase in the intramembranal level of PC was seen when membranes were methylated under the site III conditions in the presence of phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine as exogenous substrate. There was no effect of phospholipid methylation on sarcolemmal Na+-K+ ATPase and Mg2+ ATPase activities. These results indicate a role of phospholipid N-methylation in the regulation of sarcolemmal Ca2+ ATPase and low affinity ATP-independent Ca2+ binding.