A novel role for calmodulin:: Ca2+-independent inhibition of type-1 inositol trisphosphate receptors

Calmodulin inhibits both inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) binding to, and IP3-evoked Ca2+ release by, cerebellar IP3 receptors [Patel, Morris, Adkins, O' Beirne and Taylor (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A, 94, 11627-11632]. In the present study, full-length rat type-1 and -3 IP3 receptors were expressed at high levels in insect Spodoptera frugiperda 9 cells and the effects of calmodulin were examined. In the absence of Ca2+, calmodulin caused a concentration-dependent and reversible inhibition of [H-3]IP3 binding to type-1 IP3 receptors by decreasing their apparent affinity for IP3. The effect was not reproduced by high concentrations of troponin C, parvalbumin or S-100. Increasing the medium free [Ca2+] ([Ca2+](m)) inhibited [H-3]IP3 binding to type-1 receptors, but the further inhibition caused by a submaximal concentration of calmodulin was similar at each [Ca2+](m). In the absence of Ca2+, I-125-calmodulin bound to a single site on each type-1 receptor subunit and to an additional site in the presence of Ca2+. There was no detectable binding of I-125-calmodulin to type-3 receptors and binding of [H-3]IP3 was insensitive to calmodulin at all [Ca2+](m). Both peptide and conventional Ca2+-calmodulin antagonists affected neither [H-3]IP3 binding directly nor the inhibitory effect of calmodulin in the absence of Ca2+, but each caused a [Ca2+](m)-dependent reversal of the inhibition of [H-3]IP3, binding caused by calmodulin. Camstatin, a peptide that binds to calmodulin equally well in the presence or absence of Ca2+, reversed the inhibitory effects of calmodulin on [H-3]IP3 binding at all [Ca2+](m). We conclude that calmodulin specifically inhibits [H-3]IP3 binding to type-1 IP3 receptors: the first example of a protein regulated by calmodulin in an entirely Ca2+-independent manner. Inhibition of type-1 IP3 receptors by calmodulin may dynamically regulate their sensitivity to IP3 in response to the changes in cytosolic free calmodulin concentration thought to accompany stimulation of neurones.