Metabolism of myosin heavy chain in steady-state chick skeletal muscle cultures.

Synthesis, accumulation and breakdown of the 200000-mol.wt. heavy subunit of myosin were analysed over an 11 day period in muscle cell cultures isolated from the leg muscle of 12-day chick embryos. Muscle cells accumulated myosin heavy chain rapidly from days 2 to 5 and maintained a maximum, constant myosin-heavy-chain concentration between days 7 and 11. Myosin-heavy-chain content and breakdown rate were compared in steady-state muscle cultures grown either in the presence of an optimum batch of horse serum (control) or in the presence of horse serum that had been pre-selected for its ability to inhibit several-fold the rate of synthesis of myosin heavy chain (inhibitory). The quantity of myosin heavy chain in the inhibited cultures was decreased in direct proportion to the decrease in the rate of synthesis of myosin heavy chain; however, the half-lives of myosin heavy chain (control, 17.7h; inhibitory, 17.0h) were virtually identical. In contrast, the absolute rate of breakdown of myosin heavy chain, expressed as molecules/min per nucleus, was approx. 5-fold lower in the inhibited cultures (4.3 X 10(3) molecules/min per nucleus) than in the control cultures (21.7 X 10(3) molecules/min per nucleus). Thus, inhibition of myosin-heavy-chain synthesis in this case was accompanied by diminished myosin-heavy-chain concentration and absolute breakdown rate at the altered steady state, but relative myosin-heavy-chain breakdown rates were unchanged.