We have used resonance energy transfer to study the spatial relationship between Cys-98 of rabbit skeletal troponin C and Cys-133 of rabbit skeletal troponin I in the reconstituted ternary troponin complex. The donor was introduced by labeling either troponin C or troponin I with N-(iodoacetyl)-N'-(5-sulfo-1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine, while the acceptor was introduced by labeling either protein with N-[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl-4'-azophenyl]maleimide. The extent of energy transfer was determined by measuring the quenching of the donor fluorescence decay. The results indicate first that the distance between these two sites is not fixed, suggesting that the protein regions involved possess considerable segmental flexibility. Second, the mean distance between the two sites is dependent on the metal-binding state of troponin C, being 39.1 A when none of the metal-binding sites are occupied, 41.0 A when Mg2+ ions bind at the high-affinity sites, and 35.5 A when Ca2+ ions bind to the low-affinity sites. Neither the magnitude of the distances nor the trend of change with metal ions differs greatly when the locations of the probes are switched or when steady-state fluorometry was used to determine the transfer efficiency. Since the low-affinity sites have been implicated as the physiological triggering sites, our findings suggest that one of the key events in Ca2+ activation of skeletal muscle contraction is a approximately 5-A decrease in the distance between the Cys-98 region of troponin C and the Cys-133 region of troponin I.

Fluorescence lifetime and acrylamide quenching studies were carried out to characterize the interactions between the subunits of troponin under various conditions of metal ion binding. Troponin C was labeled at Cys-98 with N-(iodoacetyl)-N'-(5-sulfo-1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine. In the presence of Ca2+, the fluorescence decay of labeled troponin C (TnC*) was monoexponential, lifetime tau = 15.5 ns and quenching rate constant kq = 2.97 X 10(8) M-1 s-1. In the absence of Ca2+, the decay was resolvable into a major component with tau = 11.9 ns and a minor component with tau = 20.5 ns, with corresponding values of kq = 4.80 X 10(8) and 0.66 X 10(8) M-1 s-1, respectively. Upon the binding of either troponin I (TnI) or troponin T (TnT) in the presence of Ca2+, tau increased to approximately 18 ns, and kq decreased to approximately 0.8 X 10(8) M-1 s-1. For the Ca2+ form of the TnC*-TnI-TnT ternary complex, values of tau = 17.6 ns and kq = 1.73 X 10(8) M-1 s-1 were obtained. These values did not vary significantly when Ca2+ was removed, or when Mg2+ replaced Ca2+. These findings were interpreted as follows: the region around Cys-98 of TnC* adopts a looser conformation upon the removal of Ca2+ from the high-affinity sites. Both TnI and TnT bind to TnC* in the region containing Cys-98. The probe is shielded from the solvent to a greater extent in the binary complexes than in the ternary complex.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)