Cooperativity of myosin II motors in the non-regulated and regulated thin filaments investigated with high-speed AFM.

ABSTRACT: Skeletal myosins II are non-processive molecular motors that work in ensembles to produce muscle contraction while binding to the actin filament. Although the molecular properties of myosin II are well known, there is still debate about the collective work of the motors: is there cooperativity between myosin motors while binding to the actin filaments? In this study, we use high-speed AFM to evaluate this issue. We observed that the initial binding of small arrays of myosin heads to the non-regulated actin filaments did not affect the cooperative probability of subsequent bindings and did not lead to an increase in the fractional occupancy of the actin binding sites. These results suggest that myosin motors are independent force generators when connected in small arrays, and that the bindi

SUBMITTER: Matusovsky OS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9859764 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature