title: Myosin motors: missing structures and hidden springs.
abstract: High-resolution structures of the motor domain of myosin II and lower resolution actin-myosin structures have led to the "swinging lever arm" model for myosin force generation. The available kinetic data are not all easily reconciled with this model and understanding the final details of the myosin motor mechanism must await actin-myosin co-crystals. The observation that myosin can populate multiple states in the absence of actin has nonetheless led to significant insights. The currently known myosin structures correspond to defined kinetic states that bind weakly (K(d)>microM) to actin. It is possible that the myosin lever arm could complete its swing before strong binding to actin and force generation--a process that would correspond, in the absence of load, to a Brownian ratchet. We further suggest that, under load, internal springs within the myosin head could decouple force generation and lever arm movement.
authors: Structural Motility, Institut Curie CNRS, UMR 144, 26 rue d'Ulm, 75248 05 Paris Cedex, France. anne.houdusse@curie.fr
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Houdusse
authors: H L
authors: HL
authors: Sweeney
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D000205:Actomyosin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D024701:Myosin Type V; D009218:Myosins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D002148:Calmodulin-Binding Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C078829:chicken brain myosin-V p190; D000205:Actomyosin; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases; D024701:Myosin Type V; D009218:Myosins