Abstract
The cardiac thin filament is regulated in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner through conformational changes of troponin and tropomyosin (Tm). It has been generally understood that under conditions of low Ca(2+) the inhibitory peptide domain (IP) of troponin I (TnI) binds to actin and holds Tm over the myosin binding sites on actin to prevent crossbridge formation. More recently, evidence that the C-terminal mobile domain (MD) of TnI also binds actin has made for a more complex scenario. This study uses a computational model to investigate the consequences of assuming that TnI regulates Tm movement via two actin-binding domains rather than one. First, a 16-state model of the cardiac thin filament regulatory unit was created with TnI-IP as the sole regulatory domain. Expansion of this to include TnI-MD formed a 24-state model. Comparison of these models showed that assumption of a second actin-binding site allows the individual domains to have a lower affinity for actin than would be required for IP acting alone. Indeed, setting actin affinities of the IP and MD to 25% of that assumed for the IP in the single-site model was sufficient to achieve precisely the same degree of Ca(2+) regulation. We also tested the 24-state model's ability to represent steady-state experimental data in the case of disruption of either the IP or MD. We were able to capture qualitative changes in several properties that matched what was seen in the experimental data. Lastly, simulations were run to examine the effect of disruption of the IP or MD on twitch dynamics. Our results suggest that both domains are required to keep diastolic cross-bridge activity to a minimum and accelerate myofilament relaxation. Overall, our analyses support a paradigm in which two domains of TnI bind with moderate affinity to actin, working in tandem to complete Ca(2+)-dependent regulation of the thin filament.