Structure of tropomyosin-troponin T cocrystals

Crystals formed from a mixture of tropomyosin and troponin T have an open double-stranded lattice structure with a diamond-shaped repeat. In some regions the appearance in electron micrographs of negatively stained specimens changes from this double-diamond lattice to a more condensed banded crystal form. The double-diamond lattice has plane group symmetry cmm with unit cell 76.3 by 21.7 nm. The molecules form continuous chains along the diagonal of the unit cell and the diagonal length (79.4 nm) is that expected for two tropomyosin molecules joined end-to-end. Computer filtering of the micrographs shows that the strands of the lattice are thicker from the acute vertex of the large diamond to a point about half-way along the side of the diamond, where there is a small blob of density. At the acute vertex of the diamond is a large blob of density which is accentuated, however, by being at the lattice node where strands cross each other, and which is much weaker in regions of the micrographs where the crystals have condensed laterally. The results indicate that troponin T is a long thin molecule running in contact with the tropomyosin strands over 40-50% of the tropomyosin molecular length. The small globular region may represent the end-to-end overlap of tropomyosin but is more likely to be a globular region at the C-terminal region of troponin T.