Structure and function of myosin filaments

Myosin filaments interact with actin to generate muscle contraction and many forms of cell motility. X-ray and electron microscopy (EM) studies have revealed the general organization of myosin molecules in relaxed filaments, but technical difficulties have prevented a detailed description. Recent st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current opinion in structural biology 2006-04, Vol.16 (2), p.204-212
Main Authors: Craig, Roger, Woodhead, John L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actin Cytoskeleton - physiology
Actin Cytoskeleton - ultrastructure
Animals
Models, Biological
Muscle Contraction
Muscle, Skeletal - physiology
Muscle, Skeletal - ultrastructure
Muscle, Smooth - physiology
Muscle, Smooth - ultrastructure
Myosin Subfragments - physiology
Myosin Subfragments - ultrastructure
Myosins - physiology
Myosins - ultrastructure
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Summary:Myosin filaments interact with actin to generate muscle contraction and many forms of cell motility. X-ray and electron microscopy (EM) studies have revealed the general organization of myosin molecules in relaxed filaments, but technical difficulties have prevented a detailed description. Recent studies using improved ultrastructural and image analysis techniques are overcoming these problems. Three-dimensional reconstructions using single-particle methods have provided many new insights into the organization of the myosin heads and tails. Docking of atomic structures into cryo-EM density maps suggests how regulated myosin filaments are ‘switched off’, bringing about muscle relaxation. Additionally, sequence analysis suggests probable interactions between myosin tails in the backbone, whereas crystallographic and EM studies are starting to reveal tail interactions directly in three dimensions.
ISSN:0959-440X
1879-033X
DOI:10.1016/j.sbi.2006.03.006