title: Desmin filaments studied by quasi-elastic light scattering.
abstract: We studied polymers of desmin, a muscle-specific type III intermediate filament protein, using quasi-elastic light scattering. Desmin was purified from chicken gizzard. Polymerization was induced either by 2 mM MgCl(2) or 150 mM NaCl. The polymer solutions were in the semidilute regime. We concluded that the persistence length of the filaments is between 0.1 and 1 microm. In all cases, we found a hydrodynamic diameter of desmin filaments of 16-18 nm. The filament dynamics exhibits a characteristic frequency in the sense that correlation functions measured on one sample but at different scattering vectors collapse onto a single master curve when time is normalized by the experimentally determined initial decay rate.
authors.affiliation: Lehrstuhl für Biophysik, E22, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hohenadl
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Storz
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kirpal
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kroy
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Merkel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D003893:Desmin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004548:Elasticity; D005895:Gizzard, Avian; D007382:Intermediate Filaments / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007700:Kinetics; D008027:Light; D015636:Magnesium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D008433:Mathematics; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009994:Osmolar Concentration; D011108:Polymers; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D013696:Temperature; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D003893:Desmin; D011108:Polymers; D015636:Magnesium Chloride; D012965:Sodium Chloride