The Mg-ATPase activity of skeletal muscle myosin subfragment 1 (S1) is reversibly eliminated when it is aggregated by the force of osmotic pressure dehydration using polyethylene glycol (PEG). Several experiments indicate nucleotides bind aggregated S1, but the effects of binding are attenuated. Compared with S1 in solution, ϵADP binds aggregated S1 with reduced affinity, and the bound ϵADP fluorescence intensity is more effectively quenched by acrylamide. When ATP binds aggregated S1, the tryptophan intensity increases to only 50% of the solution level. Chemical cross-linking of cys-707 to cys-697 by p-phenylenedimaleimide is less efficient for aggregated S1·MgADP. The data are consistent with aggregated S1 being able to bind nucleotide but not being able to complete the usual conformation change(s) in response to binding. If S1 is kept from aggregating by increasing the ionic strength at the same osmotic pressure, its Mg-ATPase activity and ATP-induced tryptophan fluorescence intensity increase are normal. The combined data are consistent with an ATP hydrolysis mechanism in which S1 segmental motion is coupled to its enzymatic activity. In this model, segmental motion is mechanically constrained by aggregation; the constrained S1 can bind ATP, but it cannot complete the hydrolysis mechanism.

Osmotic stress in the 0.5-5 x 10(6) dyne/cm2 range was used to perturb the hydration of actin-myosin-ATP intermediates during steady-state hydrolysis. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) (1000 to 4000 Da), in the 1 to 10 wt% range, which does not cause protein precipitation, did not significantly affect the apparent KM or the Vmax for MgATP hydrolysis by myosin subfragment 1 (S1) alone, nor did it affect the value for the phosphate burst. Consistent with the kinetic data, osmotic stress did not affect nucleotide-induced changes in the fluorescence intensities of S1 tryptophans or of fluorescein attached to Cys-707. The accessibility of the fluorescent ATP analog, epsilon ADP, to acrylamide quenching was also unchanged. These data suggest that none of the steps in the ATP hydrolysis cycle involve substantial hydration changes, which might occur for the opening or closing of the ATP site or of other crevices in the S1 structure. In contrast, KM for the interaction of S1.MgADP.Pi with actin decreased tenfold in this range of osmotic pressure, suggesting that formation of actin.S1.MgADP.Pi involves net dehydration of the proteins. The dehydration volume increases as the size of the PEG is increased, as expected for a surface-excluded osmolyte. The measured dehydration volume for the formation of actin.S1.MgADP.Pi was used to estimate the surface area of the binding interface. This estimate was consistent with the area determined from the atomic structures of actin and myosin, indicating that osmotic stress is a reliable probe of actin.myosin.ATP interactions. The approach developed here should be useful for determining osmotic stress and excluded volume effects in situ, which are much larger than those of typical in vitro conditions.