Friday, May 9, 2025
5/9/2025
Structural basis of the super-relaxed state in human cardiac muscle - Myosin filaments in muscle exhibit an energy-saving “super-relaxed” (SRX) state that is thought to be fundamental to the energetics and regulation of contraction. In cardiac muscle (including human), the SRX state contributes to energy economy by sequestering a proportion of myosin heads away from actin, to be released as needed when cardiac activity increases. Pathologic alterations to the SRX state are thought to underlie many inherited cardiomyopathies, and therapeutic drugs appear to work by reversing these changes. Despite its ubiquity and importance, the structural basis of the SRX has not been defined, leaving a crucial gap in our understanding of cardiac contraction and the mechanism of disease and its treatment. A widely held view is that SRX is structurally related to another ubiquitous feature of muscle myosin: the “interacting-heads motif” (IHM), in which myosin’s two heads (blocked and free) interact with each other and with the proximal myosin tail (S2), inhibiting their activity and conserving ATP. However, recent studies suggest that SRX may be a property of the myosin heads themselves, and not require head interactions. In this grant we will use single particle electron microscopy (EM), cryo-EM, and other biophysical techniques to define the structural basis of the SRX state and the impact of key hypertrophic (HCM) and dilated (DCM) cardiomyopathy-inducing mutations and therapeutic drugs on the structure of the IHM. Aim 1 will define the basis of SRX in the isolated cardiac myosin head (S1) and heavy meromyosin (HMM) by assessing if: (A) the SRX results directly from a specific conformation of the myosin heads, and (B) the IHM correlates with the SRX state. Myosin constructs comprising single heads (S1) or two heads with 15 heptads of tail (15-hep), enough to form the IHM, will be expressed and characterized by our collaborator, Dr. Christopher Yengo. Controls will have both heads but only 2 heptads of tail (2-hep), which cannot form a full IHM. Negative staining EM and class averaging will reveal S1 and IHM conformations, and cryo-EM will show for the first time the near-atomic resolution structure revealing the interactions within the IHM that underlie cardiac relaxation. Aim 2 will define the structural basis of the SRX in native thick filaments by determining the near- atomic cryo-EM structure of filaments isolated from cardiac muscle. Aim 3 will reveal the structural impact of key HCM- and DCM-inducing mutations and therapeutic drugs on myosin head and IHM structure, using cryo-EM and single particle imaging. The SRX is now widely recognized as a fundamental state of normal relaxed muscle, but its structural basis is not understood. Our high-resolution structural studies will reveal the near-atomic structures of cardiac S1 and the IHM and their relationship to the SRX in both molecules and filaments. This will provide new insights into the fundamental mechanism of relaxation (diastole) in cardiac muscle, and an improved understanding of the structural basis of cardiomyopathies and their treatment.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).