- Hong, TingTing;
- Yang, Huanghe;
- Zhang, Shan-Shan;
- Cho, Hee Cheol;
- Kalashnikova, Mariya;
- Sun, Baiming;
- Zhang, Hao;
- Bhargava, Anamika;
- Grabe, Michael;
- Olgin, Jeffrey;
- Gorelik, Julia;
- Marbán, Eduardo;
- Jan, Lily Y;
- Shaw, Robin M
Cardiomyocyte T tubules are important for regulating ion flux. Bridging integrator 1 (BIN1) is a T-tubule protein associated with calcium channel trafficking that is downregulated in failing hearts. Here we find that cardiac T tubules normally contain dense protective inner membrane folds that are formed by a cardiac isoform of BIN1. In mice with cardiac Bin1 deletion, T-tubule folding is decreased, which does not change overall cardiomyocyte morphology but leads to free diffusion of local extracellular calcium and potassium ions, prolonging action-potential duration and increasing susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias. We also found that T-tubule inner folds are rescued by expression of the BIN1 isoform BIN1+13+17, which promotes N-WASP-dependent actin polymerization to stabilize the T-tubule membrane at cardiac Z discs. BIN1+13+17 recruits actin to fold the T-tubule membrane, creating a 'fuzzy space' that protectively restricts ion flux. When the amount of the BIN1+13+17 isoform is decreased, as occurs in acquired cardiomyopathy, T-tubule morphology is altered, and arrhythmia can result.