Abstract
Muscle contraction results from a sliding movement of actin filaments induced by myosin crossbridges on hydrolysis of ATP1,2, and many non-muscle cells are thought to move using a similar mechanism3–5. The molecular mechanism of muscle contraction, however, is not completely understood6,7. One of the major problems is the mechanochemical coupling at high velocity under near-zero load8–13. Here, we report measurements of the sliding distance of an actin filament induced by a myosin crossbridge during one ATP hydrolysis cycle in an unloaded condition. We used single sarcomeres from which the Z-lines, structures which anchor the thin filaments in the sarcomere, had been completely removed by calcium-activated neutral protease (CANP)14 and trypsin, and measured both the sliding velocity of single actin filaments along myosin filaments and the ATPase activity during sliding. Our results show that the average sliding distance of the actin filament is ≥600 Å during one ATP cycle, much longer than the length of power stroke of myosin crossbridges deduced from mechanical studies of muscle, which is of the order of 80 Å (for example, ref. 15).
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Yanagida, T., Arata, T. & Oosawa, F. Sliding distance of actin filament induced by a myosin crossbridge during one ATP hydrolysis cycle. Nature 316, 366–369 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/316366a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/316366a0
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