Calmodulin variant E140G associated with long QT syndrome impairs CaMKIIδ autophosphorylation and L-type calcium channel inactivation

Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a human inherited heart condition that can cause life-threatening arrhythmia including sudden cardiac death. Mutations in the ubiquitous Ca(2+)-sensing protein calmodulin (CaM) are associated with LQTS, but the molecular mechanism by which these mutations lead to irregular heartbeats is not fully understood. Here, we use a multidisciplinary approach including protein biophysics, structural biology, confocal imaging, and patch-clamp electrophysiology to determine the effect of the disease-associated CaM mutation E140G on CaM structure and function. We present novel data showing that mutant-regulated CaMKIIδ kinase activity is impaired with a significant reduction in enzyme autophosphorylation rate. We report the first high-resolution crystal structure of a LQTS-associated CaM variant in complex with the CaMKIIδ peptide, which shows significant structural differences, compared to the WT complex. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the E140G mutation significantly disrupted Ca(v)1.2 Ca(2+)/CaM-dependent inactivation, while cardiac ryanodine receptor (RyR2) activity remained unaffected. In addition, we show that the LQTS-associated mutation alters CaM’s Ca(2+)-binding characteristics, secondary structure content, and interaction with key partners involved in excitation-contraction coupling (CaMKIIδ, Ca(v)1.2, RyR2). In conclusion, LQTS-associated CaM mutation E140G severely impacts the structure-function relationship of CaM and its regulation of CaMKIIδ and Ca(v)1.2. This provides a crucial insight into the molecular factors contributing to CaM-mediated arrhythmias with a central role for CaMKIIδ.