Tyrosine phosphorylation of myosin heavy chain during skeletal muscle differentiation: An integrated bioinformatics approach

Background: Previously it has been shown that insulin-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation of myosin heavy chain is concomitant with enhanced association of C-terminal SRC kinase during skeletal muscle differentiation. We sought to identify putative site(s) for this phosphorylation event. Results: A combined bioinformatics approach of motif prediction and evolutionary and structural analyses identified tyrosines 163 and 1856 of the skeletal muscle heavy chain as the leading candidate for the sites of insulin-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation. Conclusion: Our work is suggestive that tyrosine phosphorylation of myosin heavy chain, whether in skeletal muscle or in platelets, is a significant event that may initiate cytoskeletal reorganization of muscle cells and platelets. Our studies provide a good starting point for further functional analysis of MHC phosphor-signalling events within different cells.