Two EF-hand motifs in ryanodine receptor calcium release channels contribute to isoform-specific regulation by calmodulin.

The mammalian ryanodine receptor Ca release channel (RyR) has a single conserved high affinity calmodulin (CaM) binding domain. However, the skeletal muscle RyR1 is activated and cardiac muscle RyR2 is inhibited by CaM at submicromolar Ca. This suggests isoform-specific domains are involved in RyR regulation by CaM. To gain insight into the differential regulation of cardiac and skeletal muscle RyRs by CaM, RyR1/RyR2 chimeras and mutants were expressed in HEK293 cells, and their single channel activities were measured using a lipid bilayer method. All RyR1/RyR2 chimeras and mutants were inhibited by CaM at 2μM Ca, consistent with CaM inhibition of RyR1 and RyR2 at micromolar Ca concentrations. An RyR1/RyR2 chimera with RyR1 N-terminal amino acid residues (aa) 1-3725 and RyR2 C-terminal aa 3692-4968 were inhibited by CaM at <1μM Ca similar to RyR2. In contrast, RyR1/RyR2 chimera with RyR1 aa 1-4301 and RyR2 4254-4968 was activated at <1μM Ca similar to RyR1. Replacement of RyR1 aa 3726-4298 with corresponding residues from RyR2 conferred CaM inhibition at <1μM Ca, which suggests RyR1 aa 3726-4298 are required for activation by CaM. Characterization of additional RyR1/RyR2 chimeras and mutants in two predicted Ca binding motifs in RyR1 aa 4081-4092 (EF1) and aa 4116-4127 (EF2) suggests that both EF-hand motifs and additional sequences in the large N-terminal regions are required for isoform-specific RyR1 and RyR2 regulation by CaM at submicromolar Ca concentrations.