Effect of crosslinking by glutaraldehyde on interaction of F-actin with heavy meromyosin.

Crosslinking of F-actin by a bifunctional reagent glutaraldehyde resulted in a marked decrease of viscosity and length of F-actin filaments. The extent and rate of superprecipitation of actomyosin reconstituted from the modified actin were lower than those of unmodified actin-myosin complex, but activation of heavy meromyosin ATPase by the crosslinked actin was higher than by unmodified one. Heavy meromyosin ATPase activated by the crosslinked actin was distinctly less dependent on KCl concentration than that activated by unmodified actin. Turbidity of the modified acto-heavy meromyosin in the presence of ATP exceeded the sum of turbidities of actin and heavy meromyosin, whereas in the case of unmodified acto-heavy meromyosin the turbidity was comparable to that for noninteracting system. The difference in activation of heavy meromyosin. ATPase by the cross-linked and unmodified actin, clearly seen at room temperature, significantly diminished when temperature was lowered to 0 degrees C.