Light-chain phosphorylation and cross-bridge conformation in myosin from vertebrate skeletal muscle

The effect of phosphorylation of the myosin light chains (LC-2) on cross-bridge conformation in synthetic myosin filaments from vertebrate skeletal muscle was studied by using chemical cross-linking and chymotryptic digestion methods. Phosphorylated and dephosphorylated myosin filaments, which were used in these experiments, had similar sedimentation coefficients, turbidities, and rates of growth from the respective minifilament structures. The proteolytic susceptibility at the heavy meromyosin-light meromyosin (HMM-LMM) junction was somewhat greater in the phosphorylated than in the dephosphorylated filaments at both pH 7.0 and pH 8.0. At the same time, the normalized rate of subfragment 2 (S-2) cross-linking to the filament surface, kS-2/kLMM, was reduced by phosphorylation of myosin. These results are consistent with partial release of cross-bridges from the thick filament surface in phosphorylated myosin filaments.