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Distal arthrogryposes (DAs) are a group of disorders characterized by congenital contractures of distal limbs without overt neurological or muscle disease. Unexpectedly, mutations in genes encoding the fast skeletal muscle regulatory proteins troponin T (TnT), troponin I (TnI), and β-tropomyosin (β-TM) have been shown to cause autosomal dominant DA. We tested how these mutations affect contractile function by comparing wild-type (WT) and mutant proteins in actomyosin ATPase assays and in troponin-replaced rabbit psoas fibers. We have analyzed all four reported mutants: Arg63His TnT, Arg91Gly β-TM, Arg174Gin TnI, and a TnI truncation mutant (Arg156ter). Thin filaments, reconstituted using actin and WT troponin and β-TM, activated myosin subfragment-1 ATPase in a calcium-dependent, cooperative manner. Thin filaments containing either a troponin or β-TM DA mutant produced significantly enhanced ATPase rates at all calcium concentrations without alternating calcium-sensitivity or cooperativity. In troponin-exchanged skinned fibers, each mutant caused a significant increase in Ca2+ sensitivity, and Arg156ter TnI generated significantly higher maximum force. Arg91Gly β-TM was found to have a lower actin affinity than WT and form a less stable coiled coil. We propose the mutations cause increased contractility of developing fast-twitch skeletal muscles, thus causing muscle contractures and the development of the observed limb deformities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have measured single-channel currents from sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) blebs (sarcoballs) of frog skeletal muscle fibres using conventional patch-clamp electrodes with excised patches. With both the pipette and bath solutions containing 50 mM Ca(gluconate)2 the slope conductance of the single channels was 39.2 pS for the most commonly seen state, with a reversal potential of –0.4 mV. The cation selectivity of this channel was investigated by replacing the bathing solution with either gluconate or HEPES salts of selected cations. The Goldman permeability ratios, calculated from the reversal potentials, were found to be P(Ca2+)/ P(K+)=2.4, P(Ca2+)/ P(Na+)=2.7, P(Ca2+)/ P(Tris+)=3.1, P(Ca2+)/ P(Mg2+)=1.0 and P(Ca2+)/ P(Ba2+)=1.1. Each value for the monovalent ions was found to be less than the corresponding value reported for the SR ryanodine receptor channel from skeletal and cardiac muscle. Single-channel activity could be recorded when the preparation was bathed in symmetrical 50 mM Mg(gluconate)2 solutions, and these channels had a similar conductance and open probability to that measured when the preparation was bathed in symmetrical Ca(gluconate)2 solution. The channel activity in symmetrical 50 mM Ca(gluconate)2 solution was insensitive to bath-applied caffeine (5 mM) and ryanodine (10 µM). The results are in agreement with the conclusion that the sarcoball Ca2+ channel is not the ryanodine receptor release channel, but possibly a form of the SR Ca2+-ATPase which is uncoupled from the catalytic events of the pump and acts as a passive ion channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]