Troponin from Akazara scallop striated adductor muscles

Troponin was isolated from striated adductor muscles of the "Akazara" scallop (Chlamys nipponensis akazara), and purified in an active form by DEAE-cellulose (Whatman DE52) column chromatography and subsequent gel filtration on Sephacryl S-300. According to sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis and densitometry, Akazara troponin is composed of three components having molecular weights of 52,000, 40,000, and 20,000 in a molar ratio of 1:1:1. The three components were separated from each other by column chromatography in the presence of 6 M urea and 1 mM EDTA on SP-Sephadex C-50 and DEAE-cellulose. The Mr 20,000 component was regarded as troponin C according to the Ca2+-binding properties, which was found to bind 0.7 mol of Ca2+/mol at 0.1 mM Ca2+. The association constant of Ca2+ to troponin C was estimated to be 5 X 10(5) M-1, and was not affected by the addition of 2 mM MgCl2. The Mr 52,000 component appeared to be troponin I, since it inhibited, together with Akazara tropomyosin, both Mg-ATPase and superprecipitation activities of actomyosin reconstituted from rabbit myosin and actin, and the inhibition of the ATPase activity was diminished by the addition of Akazara troponin C. Finally, the Mr 40,000 component appeared to be troponin T, since it co-precipitated with actin-tropomyosin filament and was indispensable with Akazara troponin C and the Mr 52,000 component (troponin I) for conferring the Ca2+ sensitivity to reconstituted actomyosin.