Turnover of cardiac troponin subunits. Kinetic evidence for a precursor pool of troponin-I.

The turnover of troponin-T, troponin-I, and troponin-C, under conditions closely approximating a steady state, has been determined from the rate of incorporation of L-[4,5-3H]leucine into the polypeptides. Isotope was administered to rats by constant infusion for a period of 4 h and the rate of equilibration of radioactive leucine in the serum was determined. The specific radioactivity of leucine was measured in both the protein and the precursor pools. Troponin subunits were separated from other proteins by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The turnover rates of other myofibrillar proteins, tropomyosin, actin, and myosin heavy and light chains, were also measured. Troponin-T and troponin-I had similar half-lives of 3.5 and 3.2 days, respectively, which were significantly different from that of troponin-C (5.3 days). The rates of turnover of troponin-T and troponin-I were greater than those of myosin heavy chain, but the turnover of troponin-C was not significantly different from that of myosin heavy chain. These findings indicate that the subunits of cardiac troponin turn over nonuniformly. In addition, evidence from kinetic experiments indicates the presence of a precursor pool of unassembled troponin-I but not for troponin-T or troponin-C.