Formation and characterization of myosin hybrids containing essential light chains and heavy chains from different muscle myosins.

Light chain exchange in 4.7 M NH4Cl was used to hybridize the essential light chain of cardiac myosin with the heavy chain of fast muscle myosin subfragment 1, S-1. The actin-activated ATPase properties of this hybrid were compared to those of the two fast S-1 isoenzymes, S-1(A1), fast muscle subfragment 1 which contains only the alkali-1 light chain, and S-1(A2), fast muscle myosin subfragment 1 which contains only the alkali-2 light chain. This hybrid S-1 behaved like S-1(A1)., At low ionic strength in the presence of actin, this hybrid had a maximal rate of ATP hydrolysis about the same as that of S-1(A1) and about one-half that of S-1(A2), while at higher ionic strengths the actin-activated ATPases of these three S-2 species were all similar. Light chain exchange in NH4Cl was also used to hybridize the essential light chains of fast muscle myosin with the heavy chains of cardiac myosin and to hybridize the essential light chains of cardiac myosin with the heavy chains of fast muscle myosin. In 60 and 100 mM KCl, the actin-activated ATPases of these two hybrid myosins were very different from those of the control myosins with the same essential light chains but were very similar to those of the control myosins with the same heavy chains, differing at most by one-third.