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Voltage sensing mechanism in skeletal muscle excitation-contraction coupling: coming of age or midlife crisis?

ABSTRACT: The process by which muscle fiber electrical depolarization is linked to activation of muscle contraction is known as excitation-contraction coupling (ECC). Our understanding of ECC has increased enormously since the early scientific descriptions of the phenomenon of electrical activation of muscle contraction by Galvani that date back to the end of the eighteenth century. Major advances in electrical and optical measurements, including muscle fiber voltage clamp to reveal membrane electrical properties, in conjunction with the development of electron microscopy to unveil structural details provided an elegant view of ECC in skeletal muscle during the last century. This surge of knowledge on structural and biophysical aspects of the skeletal muscle was followed by breakthroughs in biochemistry and molecular biology, which allowed for the isolation, purification, and DNA sequencing of the muscle fiber membrane calcium channel/transverse tubule (TT) membrane voltage sensor (Cav1.1) for ECC and of the muscle ryanodine receptor/sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release channel (RyR1), two essential players of ECC in skeletal muscle. In regard to the process of voltage sensing for controlling calcium release, numerous studies support the concept that the TT Cav1.1 channel is the voltage sensor for ECC, as well as also being a Ca2+ channel in the TT membrane. In this review, we present early and recent findings that support and define the role of Cav1.1 as a voltage sensor for ECC.

SUBMITTER: Hernandez-Ochoa EO

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6053751 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Voltage sensing mechanism in skeletal muscle excitation-contraction coupling: coming of age or midlife crisis?

Hernández-Ochoa Erick O EO Schneider Martin F MF

Skeletal muscle 20180719 1

The process by which muscle fiber electrical depolarization is linked to activation of muscle contraction is known as excitation-contraction coupling (ECC). Our understanding of ECC has increased enormously since the early scientific descriptions of the phenomenon of electrical activation of muscle contraction by Galvani that date back to the end of the eighteenth century. Major advances in electrical and optical measurements, including muscle fiber voltage clamp to reveal membrane electrical pr ...[more]

PMID: 30025545

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Project description:In skeletal muscle, excitation-contraction (EC) coupling requires depolarization-induced conformational rearrangements in L-type Ca(2+) channel (Ca(V)1.1) to be communicated to the type 1 ryanodine-sensitive Ca(2+) release channel (RYR1) of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) via transient protein-protein interactions. Although the molecular mechanism that underlies conformational coupling between Ca(V)1.1 and RYR1 has been investigated intensely for more than 25 years, the question of whether such signaling occurs via a direct interaction between the principal, voltage-sensing ?(1S) subunit of Ca(V)1.1 and RYR1 or through an intermediary protein persists. A substantial body of evidence supports the idea that the auxiliary ?(1a) subunit of Ca(V)1.1 is a conduit for this intermolecular communication. However, a direct role for ?(1a) has been difficult to test because ?(1a) serves two other functions that are prerequisite for conformational coupling between Ca(V)1.1 and RYR1. Specifically, ?(1a) promotes efficient membrane expression of Ca(V)1.1 and facilitates the tetradic ultrastructural arrangement of Ca(V)1.1 channels within plasma membrane-SR junctions. In this paper, we demonstrate that overexpression of the RGK protein Rem, an established ? subunit-interacting protein, in adult mouse flexor digitorum brevis fibers markedly reduces voltage-induced myoplasmic Ca(2+) transients without greatly affecting Ca(V)1.1 targeting, intramembrane gating charge movement, or releasable SR Ca(2+) store content. In contrast, a ?(1a)-binding-deficient Rem triple mutant (R200A/L227A/H229A) has little effect on myoplasmic Ca(2+) release in response to membrane depolarization. Thus, Rem effectively uncouples the voltage sensors of Ca(V)1.1 from RYR1-mediated SR Ca(2+) release via its ability to interact with ?(1a). Our findings reveal Rem-expressing adult muscle as an experimental system that may prove useful in the definition of the precise role of the ?(1a) subunit in skeletal-type EC coupling.

Project description:The excitation-contraction coupling (ECC) in skeletal muscle refers to the Ca2+-mediated link between the membrane excitation and the mechanical contraction. The initiation and propagation of an action potential through the membranous system of the sarcolemma and the tubular network lead to the activation of the Ca2+-release units (CRU): tightly coupled dihydropyridine and ryanodine (RyR) receptors. The RyR gating allows a rapid, massive, and highly regulated release of Ca2+ from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). The release from triadic places generates a sarcomeric gradient of Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+]) depending on the distance of a subcellular region from the CRU. Upon release, the diffusing Ca2+ has multiple fates: binds to troponin C thus activating the contractile machinery, binds to classical sarcoplasmic Ca2+ buffers such as parvalbumin, adenosine triphosphate and, experimentally, fluorescent dyes, enters the mitochondria and the SR, or is recycled through the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger and store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) mechanisms. To commemorate the 7th decade after being coined, we comprehensively and critically reviewed "old", historical landmarks and well-established concepts, and blended them with recent advances to have a complete, quantitative-focused landscape of the ECC. We discuss the: 1) elucidation of the CRU structures at near-atomic resolution and its implications for functional coupling; 2) reliable quantification of peak sarcoplasmic [Ca2+] using fast, low affinity Ca2+ dyes and the relative contributions of the Ca2+-binding mechanisms to the whole concert of Ca2+ fluxes inside the fibre; 3) articulation of this novel quantitative information with the unveiled structural details of the molecular machinery involved in mitochondrial Ca2+ handing to understand how and how much Ca2+ enters the mitochondria; 4) presence of the SOCE machinery and its different modes of activation, which awaits understanding of its magnitude and relevance in situ; 5) pharmacology of the ECC, and 6) emerging topics such as the use and potential applications of super-resolution and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) in ECC. Blending the old with the new works better!

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Voltage sensing mechanism in skeletal muscle excitation-contraction coupling: coming of age or midlife crisis?

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Voltage sensing mechanism in skeletal muscle excitation-contraction coupling: coming of age or midlife crisis?

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