Myosin-light-chain phosphatase
| Myosin Light-Chain Phosphatase | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Structure of complex between PP1 and a portion of MYPT1, generated from 1s70 | |||||||||
| Identifiers | |||||||||
| EC no. | 3.1.3.53 | ||||||||
| CAS no. | 86417-96-1 | ||||||||
| Databases | |||||||||
| IntEnz | IntEnz view | ||||||||
| BRENDA | BRENDA entry | ||||||||
| ExPASy | NiceZyme view | ||||||||
| KEGG | KEGG entry | ||||||||
| MetaCyc | metabolic pathway | ||||||||
| PRIAM | profile | ||||||||
| PDB structures | RCSB PDB PDBe PDBsum | ||||||||
| Gene Ontology | AmiGO / QuickGO | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Myosin light-chain phosphatase, also called myosin phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.53; systematic name [myosin-light-chain]-phosphate phosphohydrolase), is an enzyme (specifically a serine/threonine-specific protein phosphatase) that dephosphorylates the regulatory light chain of myosin II:
- [myosin light-chain] phosphate + H2O = [myosin light-chain] + phosphate
This dephosphorylation reaction occurs in smooth muscle tissue and initiates the relaxation process of the muscle cells. Thus, myosin phosphatase undoes the muscle contraction process initiated by myosin light-chain kinase. The enzyme is composed of three subunits: the catalytic region (protein phosphatase 1, or PP1), the myosin binding subunit (MYPT1), and a third subunit (M20) of unknown function. The catalytic region uses two manganese ions as catalysts to dephosphorylate the light-chains on myosin, which causes a conformational change in the myosin and relaxes the muscle. The enzyme is highly conserved and is found in all organisms’ smooth muscle tissue. While it is known that myosin phosphatase is regulated by rho-associated protein kinases, there is current debate about whether other molecules, such as arachidonic acid and cAMP, also regulate the enzyme.