Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent phospholamban kinase from cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum is distinct from phosphorylase kinase and forms a regulatory complex with phospholamban and the Ca2+-ATPase.

We recently reported that phospholamban, the activator of the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump, is phosphorylated by both cAMP-dependent protein kinase and a membrane-bound, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent phospholamban kinase. Phospholamban kinase and glycogen phosphorylase b kinase share the same substrate specificity. They differ however in that phospholamban kinase exhibits an absolute requirement for exogenous calmodulin. In line with the latter observation, phospholamban kinase is shown in this report to be inhibited by fluphenazine. Lower concentrations of the drug induced an activation of the kinase, presumably by hydrophobic interaction with either membrane phospholipids or integral proteins. Also, phospholamban kinase was found to be totally insensitive to antibodies elicited against phosphorylase kinase. Since antipsychotic drugs fail to inhibit the delta-subunit-dependent activity of phosphorylase kinase, the above findings confirm that the two kinases are distinct molecular entities. After detergent solubilization of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, the phospholamban-ATPase complex remains a substrate for phospholamban kinase activity, which retains the ability to catalyze the phosphorylation of exogenous phosphorylase b. However, the Ca2+ dependence is entirely lost upon solubilization and no kinase activity is retained on calmodulin-Sepharose in the presence of Ca2+ ions. Phospholamban and phosphorylase kinase activities copurify with the pump-phospholamban complex upon fractionation of the solubilized proteins by density gradient ultracentrifugation, suggesting a tight interaction between the ATPase, its activator, and the phospholamban kinase. A tentative schematic representation of this supramolecular assembly is based upon the results described in this and preceding papers.