Characterization of an exchange reaction between soluble FKBP-12 and the FKBP.ryanodine receptor complex. Modulation by FKBP mutants deficient in peptidyl-prolyl isomerase activity.

FKBP-12 (FKBP), the soluble receptor for the immunosuppresant drug FK-506, is tightly bound to the calcium release channel (CRC)/ryanodine receptor (RyR) of skeletal muscle terminal cisternae (TC) of sarcoplasmic reticulum with a stoichiometry of 4 mol of FKBP per tetrameric RyR complex. FKBP displays cis/trans-peptidyl-prolyl isomerase (PPIase) activity which is inhibited by FK-590 or rapamycin. In skeletal muscle TC, FK-590 or rapamycin binds to and dissociates FKBP from the RyR in a time- and temperature-dependent manner which increases the open probability of the channel. Therefore, the net energized Ca2+ uptake rate of TC vesicles devoid of FKBP is reduced due to the increased leak of Ca2+ from the TC specifically via the RyR, which is reversed upon rebinding of FKBP. Thus, the RyR is modulated by FKBP (Timerman, A. P., Ogunbumni, E., Freund, E. A., Wiederrecht, G., Marks, A. R., and Fleischer, S. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 22922-22999; Mayrleitner, M., Timerman, A. P., Wiederrecht, G., and Fleischer S. (1994) Cell Calcium 15, 99-108). We now find that FKBP can be displaced from the FKBP.RyR complex by exchange with FKBP in solution. The EC50 for exchange is 0.30 microM for wild type FKBP versus 0.6 to 2.4 microM for three different site-directed mutants that are practically devoid of any measurable PPIase activity. Substitution of wild-type FKBP on the RyR complex with these PPIase-deficient mutants did not alter the Ca2+ flux of TC vesicles, whereas dissociation of FKBP from TC with FK-590 increased the Ca2+ leak rate. Our studies show that, in vivo, the FKBP.RyR complex is in equilibrium with the cytosolic pool of FKBP (approximately 3 microM) and suggest that modulation of the CRC by FKBP is independent of PPIase activity.