Atrial Light Chain-1 (ALC-1), also known as Essential Light Chain, Atrial is a

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

that in humans is encoded by the ''MYL4''

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

. ALC-1 is expressed in fetal cardiac ventricular and fetal

skeletal muscle Skeletal muscle (commonly referred to as muscle) is one of the three types of vertebrate muscle tissue, the others being cardiac muscle and smooth muscle. They are part of the somatic nervous system, voluntary muscular system and typically are a ...

, as well as fetal and adult cardiac atrial tissue. ALC-1 expression is reactivated in human ventricular

myocardium Cardiac muscle (also called heart muscle or myocardium) is one of three types of vertebrate muscle tissues, the others being skeletal muscle and smooth muscle. It is an involuntary, striated muscle that constitutes the main tissue of the wall o ...

in various

cardiac muscle Cardiac muscle (also called heart muscle or myocardium) is one of three types of vertebrate muscle tissues, the others being skeletal muscle and smooth muscle. It is an involuntary, striated muscle that constitutes the main tissue of the wall o ...

diseases, including

hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM, or HOCM when obstructive) is a condition in which muscle tissues of the heart become thickened without an obvious cause. The parts of the heart most commonly affected are the interventricular septum and the ...

dilated cardiomyopathy Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a condition in which the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood effectively. Symptoms vary from none to feeling tired, leg swelling, and shortness of breath. It may also result in chest pain or fainting. C ...

, ischemic cardiomyopathy and

congenital heart disease A congenital heart defect (CHD), also known as a congenital heart anomaly, congenital cardiovascular malformation, and congenital heart disease, is a defect in the structure of the heart or great vessels that is present at birth. A congenital he ...

Structure

ALC-1 is a 21.6 kDa protein composed of 197 amino acids. ALC-1 is expressed in fetal cardiac ventricular and fetal

, as well as fetal and adult cardiac atrial tissue. ALC-1 binds the neck region of muscle

myosin Myosins () are a Protein family, family of motor proteins (though most often protein complexes) best known for their roles in muscle contraction and in a wide range of other motility processes in eukaryotes. They are adenosine triphosphate, ATP- ...

in adult atria. Two alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding the same protein have been found for this gene. Relative to ventricular essential light chain VLC-1, ALC-1 has an additional ~40 amino-acid

N-terminal The N-terminus (also known as the amino-terminus, NH2-terminus, N-terminal end or amine-terminus) is the start of a protein or polypeptide, referring to the free amine group (-NH2) located at the end of a polypeptide. Within a peptide, the amin ...

region that contains four to eleven residues that are critical for binding

actin Actin is a family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in muscle fibrils. It is found in essentially all eukaryotic cells, where it may be present at a concentration of ...

and modulating

kinetics.

Function

ALC-1 is expressed very early in

and

development; two

E-box An E-box (enhancer box) is a Response element, DNA response element found in some eukaryotes that acts as a protein-binding site and has been found to regulate gene expression in neurons, muscles, and other tissues. Its specific DNA sequence, CANNT ...

es and CArG box in the ''MYL4'' promoter region regulate transcription. ALC-1 expression in cardiac ventricles decreases in early postnatal development, but is highly expressed in atria throughout all of adulthood. Normal atrial function is essential for embryogenesis, as inactivation of the ''MYL7'' gene was embryonic lethal at ED10.5-11.5. Evidence of ALC-1 isoform expression on contractile mechanics of

sarcomere A sarcomere (Greek σάρξ ''sarx'' "flesh", μέρος ''meros'' "part") is the smallest functional unit of striated muscle tissue. It is the repeating unit between two Z-lines. Skeletal striated muscle, Skeletal muscles are composed of tubular ...

s came from experiments studying fibers from patients expressing a higher level of ALC-1 relative to VLC-1 in cardiac left ventricular tissue. Fibers expressing high ALC-1 exhibited a higher maximal velocity and rate of shortening compared to fibers with low amounts of ALC-1, suggesting that ALC-1 increases cycling kinetics of myosin cross-bridges and regulates cardiac

contractility Contractility refers to the ability for self- contraction, especially of the muscles or similar active biological tissue *Contractile ring in cytokinesis *Contractile vacuole *Muscle contraction **Myocardial contractility *See contractile cell fo ...

. Further biochemical studies unveiled a weaker binding of the

Alanine Alanine (symbol Ala or A), or α-alanine, is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains an amine group and a carboxylic acid group, both attached to the central carbon atom which also carries a methyl group sid ...

Proline Proline (symbol Pro or P) is an organic acid classed as a proteinogenic amino acid (used in the biosynthesis of proteins), although it does not contain the amino group but is rather a secondary amine. The secondary amine nitrogen is in the p ...

-rich

N-terminus The N-terminus (also known as the amino-terminus, NH2-terminus, N-terminal end or amine-terminus) is the start of a protein or polypeptide, referring to the free amine group (-NH2) located at the end of a polypeptide. Within a peptide, the amin ...

of ALC-1 to the

C-terminus The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, carboxy tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comp ...

relative to VLC-1, which may explain the mechanism underlying the differences in cycling kinetics. The importance of this region has however raised skepticism. Further evidence for the contractile-enhancing properties of ALC-1 came from studies employing transgenesis to replace VLC-1 with ALC-1 in the mouse ventricle. This study demonstrated an increase in unloaded shortening velocity, both in skinned fibers and in an in vitro motility assay, as well as enhanced

and relaxation in whole heart experiments. These studies were supported by further studies in transgenic rats overexpressing ALC-1 which showed enhanced rates of

contraction Contraction may refer to: Linguistics * Contraction (grammar), a shortened word * Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons * Elision, omission of sounds ** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word * Synalepha, merged ...

and relaxation, as well as left ventricular developed pressure in

Langendorff heart The Langendorff heart or isolated perfused heart assay is an ''ex vivo'' technique used in pharmacological and physiological research using animals and also humans. Named after the German physiologist Oskar Langendorff, this technique allows ...

preparations. Importantly, overexpression of ALC-1 was shown to attenuate

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

in pressure-overloaded animals, by enhancing left ventricular developed pressure, maximal velocity of pressure development and relaxation.

Clinical significance

''MYL4'' expression in ventricular

has shown to abnormally persist in

neonate In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to Juvenile (orga ...

s up through adulthood in patients with the

tetralogy of Fallot Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), formerly known as Steno-Fallot tetralogy, is a congenital heart defect characterized by four specific cardiac defects. Classically, the four defects are: * Pulmonary stenosis, which is narrowing of the exit from the r ...

. Altered ALC-1 expression is also altered in other

Double outlet right ventricle Double outlet right ventricle (DORV) is a form of congenital heart disease where both of the great arteries connect (in whole or in part) to the right ventricle (RV). In some cases it is found that this occurs on the left side of the heart rather t ...

and infundibular pulmonary stenosis. Moreover, in patients with

aortic stenosis Aortic stenosis (AS or AoS) is the narrowing of the exit of the left ventricle of the heart (where the aorta begins), such that problems result. It may occur at the aortic valve as well as above and below this level. It typically gets worse o ...

aortic insufficiency Aortic regurgitation (AR), also known as aortic insufficiency (AI), is the leaking of the aortic valve of the heart that causes blood to flow in the reverse direction during ventricular diastole, from the aorta into the left ventricle. As a conse ...

, ALC-1 expression in left ventricles was elevated, and following valve replacement decreased to lower levels; ALC-1 expression also correlated with left ventricular systolic pressure. Additionally, in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy,

and

, ALC-1 protein expression is shown to be reactivated, and ALC-1 expression correlates with

calcium Calcium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to it ...

sensitivity of

myofilament Myofilaments are the three protein filaments of myofibrils in muscle cells. The main proteins involved are myosin, actin, and titin. Myosin and actin are the ''contractile proteins'' and titin is an elastic protein. The myofilaments act togeth ...

proteins in skinned fiber preparations, as well as ventricular dP/dtmax and

ejection fraction An ejection fraction (EF) is the volumetric fraction (or portion of the total) of fluid (usually blood) ejected from a chamber (usually the heart) with each contraction (or heartbeat). It can refer to the cardiac atrium, cardiac ventricle, gall ...

Interactions

ALC-1 interacts with: *

ACTC1 ACTC1 encodes cardiac muscle alpha actin. This isoform differs from the alpha actin that is expressed in skeletal muscle, ACTA1. Alpha cardiac actin is the major protein of the thin filament in cardiac sarcomeres, which are responsible for muscle ...

MYH7 Myosin-7 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''MYH7'' gene. It is the myosin heavy chain beta (MHC-β) isoform (slow twitch) expressed primarily in the heart, but also in skeletal muscles (type I fibers). This isoform is distinct from ...

Structure

Function

Clinical significance

Interactions

References

Further reading