A new method of quantitative affinity chromatography and its application to the study of myosin.

A new method of quantifying the interactions between two or three components of an interacting system, one of which is insoluble, is described. The method differs from those previously applied to affinity chromatography systems in that it does not require that elution volumes be measured, but is instead dependent on measurements of the quantity of affinity-bound material. Theoretical expressions are derived for systems in which the acceptor is immobilized. Examples presented to illustrate the validity of the theory are of the latter type and are from studies on the myosin-adenosine nucleotide-PPi system. With Sepharose-myosin columns (myosin covalently coupled to CNBr-activated Sepharose) a dissociation constant of 1.8 muM for ATP4- was found. Data were also obtained under conditions that closely approximate to those found in vivo, i.e. on columns packed with a slurry of Sephadex G-50 and precipitated myosin filaments formed at low ionic strength. The binding of MgATP2-, MgADP-, ATP4- and MgPPi2- to "filamentous" myosin in both two- (myosin and nucleotide) and three- (myosin, nucleotide and PPi) component systems at different temperatures was studied and the dissociation constants obtained agreed well with previously published values. Except for the binding of ATP4- to filamentous myosin at 4 degrees when 85% of the protein was interacting with the nucleotide, much lower values for the number of available sites occupied by the nucleotides were as a routine found in this system. Although this apparent discrepancy is difficult to explain, it is not an anomaly of the theoretical approach and may reflect the present state of understanding of the myosin system.