Thermal denaturation of myosin subfragment 1 (S1) isoforms from rabbit skeletal muscle containing the different alkali light chains A1 and A2 [S1(A1) and S1(A2), respectively] were studied by various methods. Turbidity measurements showed that thermally induced (heating rate 1 degrees C min-1) aggregation of S1(A1) occurs at lower temperatures than that of S1(A2). However, the temperature dependences of the tryptophan fluorescence spectrum and that for ATPase inactivation were the same for S1(A1) and S1(A2). Thermal denaturation of the S1 isoforms was also studied by differential scanning microcalorimetry with the 'successive annealing' method. Three independently melting cooperative regions (domains) were revealed in the molecules of both isoforms. Heat sorption curves for the S1 isoforms were different only for the most thermolabile domain, which had a maximum at 36 degrees C for S1(A1) and at 40.5 degrees C for S1(A2). Two other peaks had maxima at 46-47 degrees C and 50-51 degrees C for both isoforms. It is proposed that alkali light chains A1 and A2 differently affect the conformation of the most thermolabile domain, which probably does not contain trytophan residues and does not take part directly in the formation of the active site of the S1 ATPase.