Comparative single-molecule and ensemble myosin enzymology: Sulfoindocyanine ATP and ADP derivatives

Single-molecule and macroscopic reactions of fluorescent nucleotides with myosin have been compared. The single-molecule studies serve as paradigms for enzyme-catalyzed reactions and ligand-receptor interactions analyzed as individual stochastic processes. Fluorescent nucleotides, called Cy3-EDA-ATP and Cy5-EDA-ATP, were derived by coupling the dyes Cy3.29.OH and Cy5.29.OH (compounds XI and XIV, respectively, in Mujumdar et al. (1993, Bioconjug. Chem. 4:105-111)) with 2'(3')-O-[N-(2-aminoethyl)carbamoyl]ATP (EDA-ATP). The ATP(ADP) analogs were separated into their respective 2'- and 3'-O-isomers, the interconversion rate of which was 30[OH-] s(-1) (0.016 h(-1) at pH 7.1) at 22 degrees C. Macroscopic studies showed that 2'(3')-O-substituted nucleotides had properties similar to those of ATP and ADP in their interactions with myosin, actomyosin, and muscle fibers, although the ATP analogs did not relax muscle as well as ATP did. Significant differences in the fluorescence intensity of Cy3-nucleotide 2'- and 3'-O-isomers in free solution and when they interacted with myosin were evident. Single-molecule studies using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy showed that reciprocal mean lifetimes of the nucleotide analogs interacting with myosin filaments were one- to severalfold greater than predicted from macroscopic data. Kinetic and equilibrium data of nucleotide-(acto)myosin interactions derived from single-molecule microscopy now have a biochemical and physiological framework. This is important for single-molecule mechanical studies of motor proteins.