Ca2+-dependent muscle dysfunction caused by mutation of the Caenorhabditis elegans troponin T-1 gene

We have investigated the functions of troponin T (CeTnT-1) in Caenorhabditis elegans embryonic body wall muscle. TnT tethers troponin I (TnI) and troponin C (TnC) to the thin filament via tropomyosin (Tm), and TnT/Tm regulates the activation and inhibition of myosin-actin interaction in response to changes in intracellular [Ca2+]. Loss of CeTnT-1 function causes aberrant muscle trembling and tearing of muscle cells from their exoskeletal attachment sites (Myers, C.D., P.-Y. Goh, T. StC. Allen, E.A. Bucher, and T. Bogaert. 1996. J. Cell Biol. 132:1061-1077). We hypothesized that muscle tearing is a consequence of excessive force generation resulting from defective tethering of Tn complex proteins. Biochemical studies suggest that such defective tethering would result in either (a) Ca2+-independent activation, due to lack of Tn complex binding and consequent lack of inhibition, or (b) delayed reestablishment of TnI/TnC binding to the thin filament after Ca2+ activation and consequent abnormal duration of force. Analyses of animals doubly mutant for CeTnT-1 and for genes required for Ca2+ signaling support that CeTnT-1 phenotypes are dependent on Ca2+ signaling, thus supporting the second model and providing new in vivo evidence that full inhibition of thin filaments in low [Ca2+] does not require TnT.