Electron microscopy of cardiac myosin: its shape and properties as determined by the regulatory light chain

Structural properties of dog cardiac myosin and the influence of the regulatory light chain (LC2) on the shape of myosin heads were investigated by electron microscopy. LC2 was reversibly removed using a neutral protease from myopathic hamsters (Margossian, J. Biol. Chem. 260 (1985) 13747-54). The distribution of myosin head length centred around 17 nm with the mean length being 18.9 nm. Statistical analysis suggested that myosin heads became more globular upon removal of LC2. No extensive aggregation of myosin could be detected after LC2 was dissociated, either by sedimentation velocity or by gels run under non-denaturing conditions. The centre-to-centre distance between heads remained constant at about 21 nm, regardless of the presence or absence of LC2. The distribution of length of the globular region reveals two peaks at 7.5 and 9.5 nm, suggesting an extended and a shorter configuration of this region. The decrease in mass at the head/tail junction upon LC2 removal suggests that it is the binding site for the regulatory light chains. A bend at 57 nm from the head/tail joint was sometimes noticed, corresponding to the myosin hinge region. In high resolution micrographs individual particles revealed invaginations along the contours of the head, possibly delineating the boundaries of structural domains within the head. The conformation of arrowheads in actin decorated with either subfragment 1 (S1) or heavy meromyosin (HMM) was investigated in the presence and absence of LC2.