The Structural Basis for Phospholamban Inhibition of the Calcium Pump in Sarcoplasmic Reticulum

Background: Phospholamban (PLB) regulates sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) activity and is thus a key regulator of cardiac contractility. Results: We present the crystal structure of SERCA in complex with PLB at 2.8- resolution. Conclusion: PLB stabilizes a divalent cation-free conformation of SERCA with collapsed Ca2+ binding sites. We call the structure E2-PLB. Significance: The E2-PLB structure explains how PLB decreases Ca2+ affinity and depresses cardiac contractility. P-type ATPases are a large family of enzymes that actively transport ions across biological membranes by interconverting between high (E1) and low (E2) ion-affinity states; these transmembrane transporters carry out critical processes in nearly all forms of life. In striated muscle, the archetype P-type ATPase, SERCA (sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase), pumps contractile-dependent Ca2+ ions into the lumen of sarcoplasmic reticulum, which initiates myocyte relaxation and refills the sarcoplasmic reticulum in preparation for the next contraction. In cardiac muscle, SERCA is regulated by phospholamban (PLB), a small inhibitory phosphoprotein that decreases the Ca2+ affinity of SERCA and attenuates contractile strength. cAMP-dependent phosphorylation of PLB reverses Ca2+-ATPase inhibition with powerful contractile effects. Here we present the long sought crystal structure of the PLB-SERCA complex at 2.8- resolution. The structure was solved in the absence of Ca2+ in a novel detergent system employing alkyl mannosides. The structure shows PLB bound to a previously undescribed conformation of SERCA in which the Ca2+ binding sites are collapsed and devoid of divalent cations (E2-PLB). This new structure represents one of the key unsolved conformational states of SERCA and provides a structural explanation for how dephosphorylated PLB decreases Ca2+ affinity and depresses cardiac contractility.