Regulation of the Cardiac Ryanodine Receptor by Protein Kinase-Dependent Phosphorylation1

The exogenous addition of the catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG), or calmodulin (CaM) induced rapid phosphorylation of the ryanodine receptor (Ca2+ release channel) in canine cardiac microsomes treated with 1 mM gamma-32PATP. Added protein kinase C (PKC) also phosphorylated the cardiac ryanodine receptor but at a relatively slow rate. The observed level of PKA-, PKG-, or PKC-dependent phosphorylation of the ryanodine receptor was comparable to the maximum level of 3Hryanodine binding in cardiac microsomes, whereas the level of CaM-dependent phosphorylation was about 4 times greater. Phosphorylation by PKA, PKG, and PKC increased 3Hryanodine binding in cardiac microsomes by 22 +/- 5, 17 +/- 4, and 15 +/- 9% (average +/- SD, n = 4-5), respectively. In contrast, incubation of microsomes with 5 microM CaM alone and 5 microM CaM plus 1 mM ATP decreased 3Hryanodine binding by 38 +/- 14 and 53 +/- 15% (average +/- SD, n = 6), respectively. Phosphopeptide mapping and phosphoamino acid analysis provided evidence suggesting that PKA, PKG, and PKC predominantly phosphorylate serine residue(s) in the same phosphopeptide (peptide 1), whereas the endogenous CaM-kinase phosphorylates serine residue(s) in a different phosphopeptide (peptide 4). Photoaffinity labeling of microsomes with photoreactive 125I-labeled CaM revealed that CaM bound to a high molecular weight protein, which was immunoprecipitated by a monoclonal antibody against the cardiac ryanodine receptor. These results suggest that protein kinase-dependent phosphorylation and CaM play important regulatory roles in the function of the cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release channel.