Ca2+ regulation of mechanical properties of striated muscle. Mechanistic studies using extraction and replacement of regulatory proteins.

Extraction of regulatory proteins from thick and thin filaments of vertebrate striated muscle has proven to be an important approach in elucidating roles of these proteins in regulating contraction and in probing specific mechanisms of activation. For some proteins, such as LC2 and C protein, extraction has been fundamental in demonstrating the importance of these proteins in modulating contraction and the kinetics of cross-bridge interaction. For other proteins, such as TnC and troponin, extraction has provided significant insight into the importance of thin-filament intermolecular cooperativity in modulating Ca2+ sensitivity of the contractile process. A combination of extraction and readdition has provided a means of introducing mutated or derivatized proteins into fibers to accomplish a variety of experimental objectives. The use of this approach is likely to grow with the need to test the functional consequences of site-specific mutations as part of studies directed to mechanisms of regulation or altered regulation in heart and skeletal muscles under normal and pathophysiological conditions. Such studies are likely to include extraction in combination with other probes of function such as flash photolysis of reaction substrates or products within the cross-bridge interaction cycle. Although extraction is a powerful approach and is likely to be extended to proteins not discussed in this review, an essential element of experimental design in studies such as these is that appropriate control experiments be done to verify that observed effects of the extraction protocol are specifically attributable to the protein that is removed.