Structurally different Drosophila striated muscles utilize distinct variants of Z-band-associated proteins.

Monoclonal antibodies raised against four proteins from insect asynchronous flight muscle have been used to characterize the cross-reacting proteins in synchronous muscle of Drosophila melanogaster. Two proteins, alpha-actinin and Z(400/600), are found at the Z-band of every muscle examined. A larger variant of alpha-actinin is specific for the perforated Z-bands of supercontractile muscle. A third Z-band protein, Z(210), has a very limited distribution. It is found only in the asynchronous muscle and in the large cells of the jump muscle (tergal depressor of the trochanter). The absence of Z(210) from the anterior four small cells of the jump muscle demonstrates that cells within the same muscle do not have identical Z-band composition. The fourth protein, projectin, greater than 600 kDa polypeptide component of the connecting filaments in asynchronous muscle, is also detected in all synchronous muscles studied. Surprisingly, projectin is detected in the region of the thick filaments in synchronous muscles, rather than between the thick filaments and the Z-band, as in asynchronous muscles. Despite their different locations, the projectins of synchronous and asynchronous muscles are very similar, but not identical, as judged by SDS-PAGE and by peptide mapping. Projectin shows immunological cross-reactivity with twitchin, a nematode giant protein that is a component of the body wall A-band and shares similarities with vertebrate titin.