Polymerization of actin induced by actin-binding fragments of caldesmon

Abstract Our earlier studies revealed that caldesmon causes assembly of G-actin into polymers morphologically indistinguishable from those formed in the presence of salt (Gal a zkiewicz, B., Belagyi, J. and D a browska, R. (1989) Eur. J. Biochem. 181, 607–614). In this work we have investigated the effect of actin-binding fragments of caldesmon on actin polymerization process followed by measurements of the changes in fluorescence of pyrenyl conjugated with G-actin and ATP hydrolysis. The results indicate that C-terminal 34 kDa fragment of caldesmon containing two actin-binding sites and 19 kDa containing high-affinity binding site have similar capability to polymerize actin to that of intact molecule. Binding of each of these fragments to G-actin causes bypassing of nucleation phase. The 11.5 kDa fragment comprising low affinity actin-binding site has much lower potency to polymerize actin. Conformation of actin monomers in filaments formed upon 19 kDa fragment and that formed upon 11.5 kDa fragment differs. The former fragment seems to resemble more conformation of monomers in filaments formed upon intact caldesmon than the latter one.