Revealing the mechanism of how cardiac myosin-binding protein C N-terminal fragments sensitize thin filaments for myosin binding

Cardiac muscle contraction is triggered by calcium binding to troponin. The consequent movement of tropomyosin permits myosin binding to actin, generating force. Cardiac myosin-binding protein C (cMyBP-C) plays a modulatory role in this activation process. One potential mechanism for the N-terminal domains of cMyBP-C to achieve this is by binding directly to the actin-thin filament at low calcium levels to enhance the movement of tropomyosin. To determine the molecular mechanisms by which cMyBP-C enhances myosin recruitment to the actin-thin filament, we directly visualized fluorescently labeled cMyBP-C N-terminal fragments and GFP-labeled myosin molecules binding to suspended actin-thin filaments in a fluorescence-based single-molecule microscopy assay. Binding of the C0C3 N-terminal cMyBP-C fragment to the thin filament enhanced myosin association at low calcium levels. However, at high calcium levels, C0C3 bound in clusters, blocking myosin binding. Dynamic imaging of thin filament-bound Cy3-C0C3 molecules demonstrated that these fragments diffuse along the thin filament before statically binding, suggesting a mechanism that involves a weak-binding mode to search for access to the thin filament and a tight-binding mode to sensitize the thin filament to calcium, thus enhancing myosin binding. Although shorter N-terminal fragments (Cy3-C0C1 and Cy3-C0C1f) bound to the thin filaments and displayed modes of motion on the thin filament similar to that of the Cy3-C0C3 fragment, the shorter fragments were unable to sensitize the thin filament. Therefore, the longer N-terminal fragment (C0C3) must possess the requisite domains needed to bind specifically to the thin filament in order for the cMyBP-C N terminus to modulate cardiac contractility.