Online Supplement Nakmura et al. cgmp-dependent relaxation of smooth muscle Materials and Methods Measurement of tension The rabbit femoral artery was prepared and each arterial ring was permeabilized with α-toxin as described. 1 The levels of tension obtained with Ca 2+ -free and 10 µmol/l Ca 2+ (8.689 + 0.645 mn) were assigned to be 0% and 100%, respectively. Antibodies Mouse anti-mlc antibody was purchased from Sigma and mouse anti-phospho-ser19 of MLC antibody was prepared as described. 2 Rabbit anti-phospho-ser695 MBS antibody [ps695ab] raised against ARQSRRpSTQG and anti-diphospho-ser695/thr696 MBS antibody [ps695/pt696ab] raised against RQSRRpSpTQG were prepared by Genemed Synthesis. All antibodies were affinity purified and other antibodies were prepared as described. 1 Western blotting The phosphorylation of MLC, MBS or CPI17 in arterial strips was determined as described. 1 Purification of proteins The cdna clone of human Rho-kinase, rat MBS, and bovine cgmp-dependent protein kinase (PKG) were kindly supplied by Dr T. Leung (University of Singapore), Dr. P. Cohen (University of Dundee, U.K.), and Dr. F. Hofmann (Technische Universitat, Germany), respectively. The mutagenesis was performed according to the manufacturer's protocol (Stratagene). The cdnas were subcloned into pfastbacht baculovirus transfer vector, and the recombinant proteins were expressed in Sf9 cells and purified according to the
manufacturer s protocol (QIAGEN). Smooth muscle myosin and MLCK were prepared as described. 3, 4 MLCPassay The MLCP assay was carried out at 25 C using 32 P-labeled smooth muscle myosin as a substrate. 5 It should be noted that no detectable phosphatase activity was present in the 32 P-labeled myosin. The arterial rings were immersed in liquid nitrogen at indicated times and homogenized in 10 mmol/l Tris-HCl (ph 7.5), 100 mmol/l KCl, 40 mmol/l MgCl 2, 1 mmol/l EGTA, 1 mmol/l DTT, 10 µg/ml leupeptin and 1 mmol/l PMSF. Then, the homogenates (4 mg/ml) were incubated with 32 P-labeled 3 µmol/l myosin in the presence of 100 mmol/l NaCl, 30 mmol/l Tris-HCl (ph 7.5), 0.1 mmol/l EGTA, 0.2 mg/ml bovine serum albumin. The reactions were terminated by the addition of 10% trichloroacetic acid. The liberated 32 P was determined by Cerenkov counting. MBS kinase assay The MBS kinase assay was performed at 25 C using full length Ser695Ala MBS as a substrate. The frozen rings described above were homogenized in 50 mmol/l HEPES (ph 7.5), 100 mmol/l NaCl, 1% Triton X-100, 10 µg/ml leupeptin (buffer A), 1 mmol/l PMSF, 1 mmol/l DTT and 3 µmol/l calyculin A. Then, the homogenates (2 mg/ml) were incubated with 20 µg/ml Ser695Ala MBS in the presence of 5 mmol/l MgCl 2, 1 mmol/l CaCl 2 and 0.1 mmol/l ATP at 25 C. The MBS phosphorylation was monitored by Western blotting using pthr696ab. MBS phosphatase assay The MBS phosphatase assay was performed at 25 C using full length wild type(wt) MBS 2
phosphorylated by Rho-kinase and/or PKG as a substrate. MBS (30 µg/ml) was phosphorylated by Rho-kinase (5 µg/ml) or PKG (5 µg/ml) in the buffer containing 20 mmol/l Tris-Cl, ph 7.5, 4 mmol/l MgCl2, 25 mmol/l NaCl, 1 mmol/l PMSF, 30 µg/ml Leupeptine, 2 mm DTT, 0.1 mmol/l ATP with or without 3 µmol/l cgmp (for activating PKG). Phosphorylated MBS by Rho-kinase was sequentially phosphorylated by adding 3 µmol/l cgmp and PKG (5 µg/ml). The frozen rings were homogenized in buffer A with 1 µmol/l staurosporine, 30 µmol/l Y-27632 and 30 µmol/l DT-3. Then, the homogenates (2 mg/ml) were incubated with WT MBS phosphorylated by Rho-kinase at 25 C. The MBS phosphorylation was monitored by using pthr696ab. It should be noted that similar results were obtained when the frozen rings were homogenized with hexokinase and glucose in the above buffer to deplete endogenous ATP in the homogenates, thus quenching the kinase activity. Computer simulation Fraction population of [S 695 T 696 ], [S 695 pt 696 ], [ps 695 T 696 ] and [ps 695 pt 696 ] in the presence and the absence of cgmp at steady state were estimated by computer simulation using STELLA v8.1.1 software (iseesystems, Lebanon, NH). The rate constants (arbitrary) shown in the Fig. 8a in the absence of cgmp were as follow. k +1 = 1, k +1 = 0.6, k -1 = k -1 = 0.7, k +2 = k +2 = 1, k -2 = k -2 = 1.5. The rate constants in the presence of cgmp were as follow. k +1 = 1, k +1 = 0.6, k -1 = k -1 = 1.4 (2-fold increase), k +2 = k +2 = 3 (3-fold increase), k -2 = k -2 = 1.5. The rate of [S 695 T 696 ] formation was described as k -1 [S 695 pt 696 ] + k -2 [ps 695 T 696 ] (k +1 + k +2 ) [S 695 T 696 ]. The rate of [S 695 pt 696 ] formation was described as k +1 [S 695 T 696 ] + k -2 [ps 695 pt 696 ] (k -1 + k +2 ) [S 695 pt 696 ]. The rate of [ps 695 T 696 ] formation was described as k +2 [S 695 T 696 ] + k -1 [ps 695 pt 696 ] (k -2 + k +1 ) [ps 695 T 696 ]. The rate of [ps 695 pt 696 ] formation was described as k +2 [S 695 pt 696 ] + k +1 [ps 695 T 696 ] (k -2 + k -1 ) 3
[ps 695 pt 696 ]. The initial values of [S 695 T 696 ], [S 695 pt 696 ], [ps 695 T 696 ] and [ps 695 pt 696 ] at time zero were 100, 0, 0 and 0, respectively. The simultaneous differential equation was solved by Runge-Kutta 4 th approximation with calculation time interval of 0.0025. Halving and doubling the calculation time interval did not affect the result. Statistical analysis The results are expressed as mean ± s.e.mean. Data were compared by Student s t -test. Values were considered significantly different at P < 0.05. Supplementary Figure Legends Fig. 1S. The phosphorylation of un-phosphorylated and Rho-kinase-prephosphorylated MBS by PKG. The pre-phosphorylation of MBS (180 µg/ml) by Rho-kinase (12 µg/ml) to the maximum level was performed in the presence of 0.1 mmol/l cold ATP at 25 o C for 60min as described previously. 1 Unphosphorylated MBS or pre-phosphorylated MBS was incubated with 5 µmol/l cgmp and PKG (12 µg/ml) in the presence of 0.1 mmol/l γ- 32 P-ATP and 0.2 µmol/l microcyctin LR, and the increase in [ 32 P] incorporation to MBS was monitored by autoradiography. The [ 32 P] incorporation of the unphosphorylated MBS obrained at 30 min by PKG was taken as 100%. Data represent mean±s.e.m. (n=4). Fig. 2S. The linear relationship between the amount of MBS and the western blot signal intensities for phosphorylated MBS. Various amounts of mono-phosphorylated MBS at Ser695 by PKG and di-phosphorylated MBS at Ser695/Thr696 by Rho-kinase/PKG were subjected to SDS-PAGE, followed by western blot using anti-phosphoser695 antibody and anti-di-phosphoser695/thr696 antibody as probes, 4
respectively. The signal intensities were quantified by densitometry. All values were expressed as means+s.e.m. (n = 3) Fig. 3S. The effect of the protein kinase inhibitors on the MBS phosphorylation by the arterial homogenates. Arterial rings were homogenized in the presence or absence of PKG inhibitor (DT-3), Rho-kinase inhibitor (Y-27632) and a non-specific kinase inhibitor (staurosporine) as described in Material and Methods. Di-phosphorylated MBS by Rho-kinase/PKG with cold ATP (see Materials and Methods) was further phosphorylated by arterial homogenates using γ- 32 P-ATP and the [ 32 P] incorporation into MBS was monitored by autoradiography. It should be noted that MBS can be phosphorylated at various sites in addition to Ser695 and Thr696 in vitro. 5
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