Thick-to-thin filament surface distance modulates cross-bridge kinetics in Drosophila flight muscle.

ABSTRACT: The demembranated (skinned) muscle fiber preparation is widely used to investigate muscle contraction because the intracellular ionic conditions can be precisely controlled. However, plasma membrane removal results in a loss of osmotic regulation, causing abnormal hydration of the myofilament lattice and its proteins. We investigated the structural and functional consequences of varied myofilament lattice spacing and protein hydration on cross-bridge rates of force development and detachment in Drosophila melanogaster indirect flight muscle, using x-ray diffraction to compare the lattice spacing of dissected, osmotically compressed skinned fibers to native muscle fibers in living flies. Osmolytes of different sizes and exclusion properties (Dextran T-500 and T-10) were used to differential

SUBMITTER: Tanner BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3447602 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature