title: Myosin molecule packing within the vertebrate skeletal muscle thick filaments. A complete bipolar model.
abstract: Computer modelling related to the real dimensions of both the whole filament and the myosin molecule subfragments has revealed two alternative modes for myosin molecule packing which lead to the head disposition similar to that observed by EM on the surface of the cross-bridge zone of the relaxed vertebrate skeletal muscle thick filaments. One of the modes has been known for three decades and is usually incorporated into the so-called three-stranded model. The new mode differs from the former one in two aspects: (1) myosin heads are grouped into asymmetrical cross-bridge crowns instead of symmetrical ones; (2) not the whole myosin tail, but only a 43-nm C-terminus of each of them is straightened and near-parallel to the filament axis, the rest of the tail is twisted. Concurrent exploration of these alternative modes has revealed their influence on the filament features. The parameter values for the filament models as well as for the building units depicting the myosin molecule subfragments are verified by experimental data found in the literature. On the basis of the new mode for myosin molecule packing a complete bipolar structure of the thick filament is created.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Computer Simulation of Muscle Contraction, Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Ks Trojdena 4, 02-109 Warszawa, Poland. Ludmila.Skubiszak@ibib.waw.pl
authors.forename: Ludmila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Skubiszak
authors.forename: Leszek
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kowalczyk
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000737:chemistry*; D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008958:Models, Molecular; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry*; D009218:Myosins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary; D014714:Vertebrates
chemical_list: D009218:Myosins