The size, shape and aggregation of tropomyosin particles

Isolation of Aulacomya paramyosin

Tropomyosin A or paramyosin has been isolated from the adductor muscle of Aulacomya magellanica. It has in common with other tropomyosins A the method used for extracting it from adductor muscle, its solubility, facility of crystallization, ammonium sulphate range of precipitation, amino acid composition and behaviour when digested with trypsin. As a particular feature it exhibits an unusual low viscosity for this type of tropomyosin. Its molecular weight, determined by the Archibald approach-to-sedimentation-equilibrium method, is 258000+/-16000.

Tropomyosin paracrystals formed by divalent cations

Rabbit tropomyosin exhibits a polymorphism dependent on divalent cations and pH. Above a critical divalent cation concentration fibers with a period of about 400 angstroms are formed. Below this concentration, and near the isoelectric point, lattices are formed. Implications for the morphology and function of striated and smooth muscle are discussed.

Comparison of Tropomyosins from Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle

No differences were found between the sedimentation coefficients, intrinsic viscosities, amino acid contents, and peptide patterns resulting from tryptic digestion of rabbit cardiac and skeletal tropomyosins. From sedimentation and viscosity data, the molecular weights of cardiac and skeletal tropomyosins were estimated to be 54,800 for both. This value is similar to previous estimates of the molecular weight of rabbit skeletal tropomyosin.

No evidence was obtained for the existence in heart muscle of tropomyosin A . Of the three more abundant contractile proteins of the heart, myosin, actin, and tropomyosin, only myosin appears to differ from its skeletal counterpart.

The properties of a complex of the mucopolysaccharide and proteins of the cornea

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