Differential Expression of Two Cardiac Myosin-Binding Protein-C Isoforms in Developing Chicken Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle Cells

Myosin-binding protein-C (MyBP-C), also known as C-protein, is a major myosin-binding protein characteristic of striated muscle, and plays a critical role in myofibril organization, especially in registration of thick filaments in the sarcomeres during myofibrillogenesis. We previously demonstrated that cardiac-type MyBP-C is involved early in the process of myofibrillogenesis in both cardiac and skeletal muscle during chicken muscle development. Two variants (type I and type II) have been detected in chicken cardiac MyBP-C; they differ only in the presence or absence of a sequence of 15 amino acid residues (termed P-seq) that includes a phosphorylation site for cyclic AMP-dependent kinase in the cardiac MyBP-C motif ( Yasuda et al, 1995 ). Therefore, types I and II are regarded as phosphorylatable and non-phosphorylatable isoforms, respectively. In this study, an antibody specific for P-seq was prepared. With this and other monoclonal antibodies to cardiac MyBP-C (C-315), expression and localization of the two MyBP-C isoforms in developing chicken cardiac and skeletal muscle were examined by immunocytochemistry and immunoblotting. The results showed that type I is predominantly expressed in the heart and is localized in myofibrils of both atrial and ventricular muscles through development. In contrast, type II is mainly expressed in embryonic skeletal muscle, although type I is faintly expressed in cultured skeletal muscle. These observations were confirmed by RT-PCR.