THE CARDIAC NA+-CA2+ EXCHANGER BINDS TO THE CYTOSKELETAL PROTEIN ANKYRIN

Na+-Ca2+ exchange is the major pathway of Ca2+ efflux during excitation-contraction coupling in cardiac muscle. The Na+-Ca2+ exchanger is present in cardiac transverse tubules with an apparent high density (Frank, J. S., Mottino, G., Reid, D., Molday, R. S., and Philipson, K. D. (1992) J. Cell Biol. 117, 337-345). The mechanism for this localization is unknown but may involve interactions with the cytoskeleton. In the present study, we examined the interaction of the Na+-Ca2+ exchanger with the cytoskeletal protein ankyrin. On immunoblots of isolated canine cardiac sarcolemma, an antibody raised against purified rabbit red blood cell-ankyrin (RBC-ankyrin) recognized a 220-kDa protein, which is the same size as RBC-ankyrin. Alkaline extraction of sarcolemma removed this protein. The Na+-Ca2+ exchange protein, purified from recombinant baculovirus-infected insect cells, bound I-125-labeled-RBC-ankyrin with a K(D) of 42 +/- 3 nm. I-125-RBC-ankyrin was co-precipitated by antibodies to the Na+-Ca2+ exchanger after preincubation with solubilized cardiac sarcolemma. Myocardial ankyrin could be localized to both surface and T-tubular sarcolemma by immunofluorescence techniques. These results demonstrate that the cardiac Na+-Ca2+ exchanger binds ankyrin with high affinity. This interaction may be important for localizing the Na+-Ca2+ exchanger to specific domains of the sarcolemma.