Phosphorylation of troponin I controls cardiac twitch dynamics: evidence from phosphorylation site mutants expressed on a troponin I-null background in mice

The cardiac myofilament protein troponin I (cTnI) is phosphorylated by protein kinase C (PKC), a family of serine/threonine kinases activated within heart muscle by a variety of agonists. cTnI is also a substrate for cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) activated during beta-adrenergic signaling. To investigate the role of cTnI phosphorylation in contractile regulation by these pathways, we generated transgenic mice harboring a mutated cTnI protein lacking phosphorylation sites for PKC (serine(43/45) and threonine(144) mutated to alanine) and for PKA (serine(23/24) mutated to alanine). Transgenic mice were interbred with cTnI-knockout mice to ensure the absence of endogenous phosphorylatable cTnI. Here, we report that regulation of myocyte twitch kinetics by beta-stimulation and by endothelin-1 was altered in myocytes containing mutant cTnI. In wild-type myocytes, the beta-agonist isoproterenol decreased twitch duration and relaxation time constant (tau) by 37% to 44%. These lusitropic effects of isoproterenol were reduced by about half in nonphosphorylatable cTnI mutant myocytes and were absent in cTnI mutants also lacking phospholamban (generated by crossing cTnI mutants with phospholamban-knockout mice). These observations are consistent with important roles for both cTnI and phospholamban phosphorylation in accelerating relaxation after beta-adrenergic stimulation. In contrast, endothelin-1 increased twitch duration by 32% and increased tau by 58%. These endothelin-1 effects were substantially blunted in nonphosphorylatable cTnI myocytes, indicating that PKC phosphorylation of cTnI slows cardiac relaxation and increases twitch duration. We propose that beta-agonists and endothelin-1 regulate cardiac twitch dynamics in opposite directions in part through phosphorylation of the myofilament protein cTnI on distinct sites.