The binding of the fluorescence probe 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate (Ans) to alpha-chymotrypsin (alpha-CHT) at pH 3.6 is accompanied by a dramatic enhancement of Ans fluorescence and a shift of the emission maximum to shorter wavelengths. Our study reveals that one Ans molecule binds to alpha-CHT at a site different from either the active site of alpha-CHT or the 2-p-toluidinylnapthalene-6-sulfonate binding site. the binding constant of Ans is about the same (10(4) M-1) at pH 3.6 and 6.4. Nanosecond fluorescence depolarization data indicate that Ans is rigidly bound to alpha-CHT. The fluorescence enhancement due to binding of Ans to alpha-CHT at low pH could be due to binding either to a hydrophobic site or to a site where local dipoles do not relax during the excited-state lifetime of Ans. As the pH is increased, fluorescence intensity of the Ans-alpha-CHT complex decreases appreciably; and the emission maximum shifts to longer wavelengths. The fluorescence decay curves exhibit a corresponding sensitivity to pH. The pH effect on the fluorescence of Ans-alpha-CHT can be interpreted in terms of a pH-dependent equilibrium between alpha-CHT conformers differing in the degree of mobility of polar residues and water molecules at the Ans binding site or structural changes in the Ans binding site.

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Smooth muscle calponin bound to the biologically active fluorescent calmodulin [2-(4'-maleimidoanilino)naphthalene-6-sulfonic acid-calmodulin] (MIANS.CaM) with a Kd of 80 nM and produced a 3.4-fold fluorescence enhancement. PKC-phosphorylated calponin (1.3 mol of Pi/mol) bound to CaM with approximately 15-fold lower affinity. Calponin inhibited CaM (10 nM) activation of the Ca(2+)-/CaM-activated cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (PDE) with an IC50 of 138 nM. The calponin-CaM interaction was Ca(2+)-dependent: half-maximal binding of calponin to MIANS.CaM occurred at pCa 6.6 with a Hill coefficient of 2.4. Stopped-flow fluorescence kinetic analysis demonstrated that EGTA chelation of Ca2+ from CaM disrupted the MIANS.CaM-calponin complex at a rate of 1 s-1. Calponin bound MIANS.CaM at a rate of (6.0 +/- 1.8) x 10(6) M-1s-1, and melittin and unlabeled brain CaM both disrupted the MIANS.CaM-calponin complex at a rate of 0.3 +/- 0.1 s-1. These studies suggest that calponin binds CaM with 80-fold lower affinity than myosin light-chain kinase and that calponin associates with CaM much slower than it associates with caldesmon or myosin light-chain kinase. The physiological relevance of the CaM-calponin interaction was evaluated by analysis of the effects of Ca(2+)-CaM on (i) the interaction of calponin with actin and (ii) calponin-mediated inhibition of actin-activated myosin MgATPase activity. Ca(2+)-CaM half-maximally inhibited calponin (2 microM) binding to smooth and skeletal muscle actins (9 microM) at 5.4 and 11 microM CaM, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

CaM (4 cTnC) is a calmodulin--cardiac troponin C chimeric protein containing the first, second, and third calcium-binding EF-hands of calmodulin (CaM) and the fourth EF-hand of cardiac troponin C (cTnC) [George, S.E., Su, Z., Fan, D., & Means, A.R. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 25213-25220]. CaM (4 cTnC) showed 2-fold-enhanced carboxy-terminal Ca2+ affinity relative to CaM and also exhibited impaired activation of the CaM-regulated enzymes smooth muscle myosin light chain kinase (smMLCK), neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), and phosphodiesterase (PDE). To investigate the molecular basis for these effects, we constructed (1) additional chimeras, replacing most of CaM helix 7, Ca2+-binding loop 4, and helix 8 with the corresponding helices and loops of cTnC; and (2) point mutants in the fourth EF-hand of CaM. Replacement of CaM's fourth loop with the corresponding loop of cTnC enhanced Ca2+ affinity by over 3-fold through an increase in the Ca2+ on rate and also reduced cooperativity of Ca2+ binding. In contrast, substitution of CaM helix 7 or 8 modestly decreased Ca2+ affinity by increasing the Ca2+ off rate, without impairment of cooperativity. All three of the helix and loop chimeras fully activated PDE, with minor shifts in Kact. CaM (helix 7 cTnC) showed a significantly impaired ability to activate smMLCK and nNOS, whereas the other two chimeras retained about 80% of the maximal smMLCK and nNOS activation observed with CaM.