Identification, phosphorylation, and dephosphorylation of a second site for myosin light chain kinase on the 20,000-dalton light chain of smooth muscle myosin.

At relatively high concentrations of myosin light chain kinase, a second site on the 20,000-dalton light chain of smooth muscle myosin is phosphorylated (Ikebe, M., and Hartshorne, D. J. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 10027-10031). In this communication the site is identified and kinetics associated with its phosphorylation and dephosphorylation are described. The doubly phosphorylated 20,000-dalton light chain from turkey gizzard myosin was hydrolyzed with alpha-chymotrypsin and the phosphorylated peptide was isolated by reverse phase chromatography. Following amino acid analyses and partial sequence determinations the second site of phosphorylation is shown to be threonine 18. This site is distinct from the threonine residue phosphorylated by protein kinase C. The time courses of phosphorylation of serine 19 and threonine 18 in isolated light chains follow a single exponential indicating a random process, although the phosphorylation rates differ considerably. The values of kcat/Km for serine 19 and threonine 18 for isolated light chains are 550 and 0.2 min-1 microM-1, respectively. With intact myosin, phosphorylation of serine 19 is biphasic; kcat/Km values are 22.5 and 7.5 min-1 microM-1 for the fast and slow phases, respectively. In contrast, phosphorylation of threonine 18 in intact myosin is a random, but markedly slower process, kcat/Km = 0.44 min-1 microM-1. Dephosphorylation of doubly phosphorylated myosin (approximately 4 mol of phosphate/mol of myosin) and isolated light chains (approximately 2 mol of phosphate/mol of light chain) follows a random process and dephosphorylation of the serine 19 and threonine 18 sites occurs at similar rates.