Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the functional relationship between filamin, a known actin binding protein, and myosin and the effects of filamin on the interaction between myosin and actin.
Methods: Ultra-centrifugation method was used to investigate the binding of filamin to both phosphorylated and unphosphorylated myosins. Mg-ATPase activities of both phosphorylated and unphosphorylated myosins in the presence and absence of actin were measured to observe the effects resulted from filamin-actin and filamin-myosin interactions.
Results: It was found that filamin is also a myosin binding protein. Filamin inhibited the actin activated Mg-ATPase activity of phosphorylated myosin and stimulated Mg-ATPase of phosphorylated myosin in the absence of actin; in addition, filamin stimulated Mg-ATPase activity of unphosphorylated myosin in both the presence or absence of actin.
Conclusion: The result suggest that the effects of filamin on the myosin Mg-ATPase activities are bi-directional, i.e., stimulatory via binding to myosin and inhibitory via binding to actin.