Modulation of Structure and Dynamics of Cardiac Troponin by Phosphorylation and Mutations Revealed by Molecular Dynamics Simulations

[Image: see text] Adrenaline acts on β1 receptors in the heart muscle to enhance contractility, increase the heart rate, and increase the rate of relaxation (lusitropy) via activation of the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, PKA. Phosphorylation of serines 22 and 23 in the N-terminal peptide of cardiac troponin I is responsible for lusitropy. Mutations associated with cardiomyopathy suppress the phosphorylation-dependent change. Key parts of troponin responsible for this modulatory system are disordered and cannot be resolved by conventional structural approaches. We performed all-atom molecular dynamics simulations (5 × 1.5 μs runs) of the troponin core (419 amino acids) in the presence of Ca(2+) in the bisphosphorylated and unphosphorylated states for both wild-type troponin and the troponin C (cTnC) G159D mutant. PKA phosphorylation affects troponin dynamics. There is significant rigidification of the structure involving rearrangement of the cTnI(1–33)–cTnC interaction and changes in the distribution of the cTnC helix A/B angle, troponin I (cTnI) switch peptide (149–164) docking, and the angle between the regulatory head and ITC arm domains. The familial dilated cardiomyopathy cTnC G159D mutation whose Ca(2+) sensitivity is not modulated by cTnI phosphorylation exhibits a structure inherently more rigid than the wild type, with phosphorylation reversing the direction of all metrics relative to the wild type.