Amino Acid Sequence of Crayfish Troponin I

Abstract

Troponin I is the actomyosin ATPase inhibitory subunit present in the thin filament regulatory complex. The complete amino acid sequence of crayfish tail muscle troponin I has been determined. The protein is composed of 201 amino acid residues and has a molecular weight of 23,547. The N terminus is blocked, likely by an acetyl group. Crayfish troponin I shows a rather low (20-25%) sequence identity with vertebrate troponin Is as compared to the 60-82% identity within the vertebrate phylum. Similar to vertebrate cardiac troponin I, crayfish troponin I contains a 30-residue-long N-terminal extension. In crayfish troponin I, this segment bears significant sequence homology with the heavy or light chains of particular myosins. The actin-binding domain of crayfish troponin I, which displays 57% sequence homology with vertebrate troponin Is, possesses 2 unusual trimethyllysine residues. The consensus sequence of this domain in five troponin Is is as follows: D-L-R-G-K-F-X-R*-P-X-L-R*-R*-V, where R+ stands for Arg/Lys, R* for Arg/trimethyllysine, and X for any amino acid residue. Troponin I possesses two Ca2+-dependent interactive sites for troponin C; one partly overlaps with the actin binding domain and is highly conserved, and the other, corresponding to the 30-residue-long segment following the N-terminal extension in vertebrate cardiac and crayfish troponin I, is poorly conserved in the different troponin Is. Troponin I also interacts with troponin T. The consensus sequence for the interacting site on troponin I is as follows: h-D- -X-D- -R+-Y-D-h-E-h, where h stands for a hydrophobic residue, D- for Asp/Glu, R+ for Arg/Lys, and X for any residue. The five troponin Is further possess one more 15-residue-long segment of high sequence identity near the C terminus. Its evolutionary conservation suggests that this domain is involved in protein-protein interaction.