Cardiomyopathy Mutations Impact the Power Stroke of Human Cardiac Myosin

Cardiac muscle contraction is driven by the molecular motor myosin that uses the energy from ATP hydrolysis to generate a power stroke when interacting with actin filaments, while it is unclear how this mechanism is impaired by mutations in myosin that can lead to heart failure. We have applied a Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) strategy to investigate structural changes in the lever arm domain of human {beta}-cardiac myosin subfragment 1 (M2{beta}-S1). We exchanged the human ventricular regulatory light chain labeled at a single cysteine (V105C) with Alexa 488 onto M2{beta}-S1, which served as a donor for Cy3ATP bound to the active site. We monitored the FRET signal during the actin-activated product release steps using transient kinetic stopped-flow measurements. We proposed that the fast phase measured with our FRET probes represents the structural change associated with rotation of the lever arm during the power stroke in M2{beta}-S1. Our results demonstrated human cardiac muscle myosin has a slower power stroke compared with fast skeletal muscle myosin and myosin V. Measurements at different temperatures comparing the rate constants of the power stroke and phosphate release revealed that the power stroke occurs before phosphate release, and the two steps are tightly coupled. We speculate that the slower power stroke rate constant in cardiac myosin may correlate with the slower force development and/or unique thin filament activation properties in cardiac muscle. Additionally, we demonstrated that HCM (R723G) and DCM (F764L) associated mutations both reduced actin-activation of the power stroke in M2{beta}-S1. We also demonstrate that both mutations decrease ensemble force development in the loaded in vitro motility assay. Thus, examining the structural kinetics of the power stroke in M2{beta}-S1 has revealed critical mutation-associated defects in the myosin ATPase pathway, suggesting these measurements will be extremely important for establishing structure-based mechanisms of contractile dysfunction. SignificanceMutations in human beta-cardiac myosin are known to cause various forms of heart disease, while it is unclear how the mutations lead to contractile dysfunction and pathogenic remodeling of the heart. In this study, we investigated two mutations with opposing phenotypes and examined their impact on ATPase cycle kinetics, structural changes associated with the myosin power stroke, and ability to slide actin filaments in the presence of load. We found that both mutations impair the myosin power stroke and other key kinetic steps as well as the ability to produce ensemble force. Thus, our results provide a structural basis for how mutations disrupt molecular level contractile dysfunction.