Myosin and adenosinetriphosphate in relation to muscle contraction

A century of exercise physiology: key concepts in muscle energetics

In the mid-nineteenth century, the concept of muscle behaving like a stretched spring was developed. This elastic model of contraction predicted that the energy available to perform work was established at the start of a contraction. Despite several studies showing evidence inconsistent with the elastic model, it persisted into the twentieth century. In 1923, W. O. Fenn published a paper in which he presented evidence that appeared to clearly refute the elastic model. Fenn showed that when a muscle performs work it produces more heat than when contracting isometrically. He proposed that energy for performing work was only made available in a muscle as and when that work was performed. However, his ideas were not adopted and it was only after 15 years of technical developments that in 1938 A. V. Hill performed experiments that conclusively disproved the elastic model and supported Fenn's conclusions. Hill showed that the rate of heat production increased as a muscle made the transition from isometric to working contraction. Understanding the basis of the phenomenon observed by Fenn and Hill required another 40 years in which the processes that generate force and work in muscle and the associated scheme of biochemical reactions were established. Demonstration of the biochemical equivalent of Hill's observations-changes in rate of ATP splitting when performing work-in 1999 was possible through further technical advances. The concept that the energy, from ATP splitting, required to perform work is dynamically modulated in accord with the loads a muscle encounters when contracting is key to understanding muscle energetics.

The Sliding Filament Theory Since Andrew Huxley: Multiscale and Multidisciplinary Muscle Research

Two groundbreaking papers published in 1954 laid out the theory of the mechanism of muscle contraction based on force-generating interactions between myofilaments in the sarcomere that cause filaments to slide past one another during muscle contraction. The succeeding decades of research in muscle physiology have revealed a unifying interest: to understand the multiscale processes-from atom to organ-that govern muscle function. Such an understanding would have profound consequences for a vast array of applications, from developing new biomimetic technologies to treating heart disease. However, connecting structural and functional properties that are relevant at one spatiotemporal scale to those that are relevant at other scales remains a great challenge. Through a lens of multiscale dynamics, we review in this article current and historical research in muscle physiology sparked by the sliding filament theory.

Pull-down of calmodulin-binding proteins

Calcium (Ca(2+)) is an ion vital in regulating cellular function through a variety of mechanisms. Much of Ca(2+) signaling is mediated through the calcium-binding protein known as calmodulin (CaM). CaM is involved at multiple levels in almost all cellular processes, including apoptosis, metabolism, smooth muscle contraction, synaptic plasticity, nerve growth, inflammation and the immune response. A number of proteins help regulate these pathways through their interaction with CaM. Many of these interactions depend on the conformation of CaM, which is distinctly different when bound to Ca(2+) (Ca(2+)-CaM) as opposed to its Ca(2+)-free state (ApoCaM). While most target proteins bind Ca(2+)-CaM, certain proteins only bind to ApoCaM. Some bind CaM through their IQ-domain, including neuromodulin, neurogranin (Ng), and certain myosins. These proteins have been shown to play important roles in presynaptic function, postsynaptic function, and muscle contraction, respectively. Their ability to bind and release CaM in the absence or presence of Ca(2+) is pivotal in their function. In contrast, many proteins only bind Ca(2+)-CaM and require this binding for their activation. Examples include myosin light chain kinase, Ca(2+)/CaM-dependent kinases (CaMKs) and phosphatases (e.g. calcineurin), and spectrin kinase, which have a variety of direct and downstream effects. The effects of these proteins on cellular function are often dependent on their ability to bind to CaM in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. For example, we tested the relevance of Ng-CaM binding in synaptic function and how different mutations affect this binding. We generated a GFP-tagged Ng construct with specific mutations in the IQ-domain that would change the ability of Ng to bind CaM in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. The study of these different mutations gave us great insight into important processes involved in synaptic function. However, in such studies, it is essential to demonstrate that the mutated proteins have the expected altered binding to CaM. Here, we present a method for testing the ability of proteins to bind to CaM in the presence or absence of Ca(2+), using CaMKII and Ng as examples. This method is a form of affinity chromatography referred to as a CaM pull-down assay. It uses CaM-Sepharose beads to test proteins that bind to CaM and the influence of Ca(2+) on this binding. It is considerably more time efficient and requires less protein relative to column chromatography and other assays. Altogether, this provides a valuable tool to explore Ca(2+)/CaM signaling and proteins that interact with CaM.

Energy utilization for control

When, on addition of a suitable substrate, a chemical potential is applied to an enzymic process such as glycolysis or respiration, whether in solution or membrane-bound, all components of the process pass into a nonequilibrium state, which might be steady or non-steady and which produces the following phenomena: (1) The reactants of each enzymic reaction are displaced from their equilibrium concentration, and energy is dissipated; (2) Part of each enzyme is transferred to a transition state of its catalytic function as well as isosteric and allosteric controlling functions, displaying local and gross conformation changes, and a rate-controlling state is generated; (3) In cyclic portions of a process futile events and chemical interconversion may occur; (4) In self- and cross-coupled portions of a process, oscillation with periodic changes of states and spatial propagation as well as instabilities may be observed; (5) At each step of a process, depending on the rate of flux and the specific enzymic function, a varying proportion of the free energy changes--which are concentration-dependent and derived from the overall potential of the system-is contributed to the control of flux rates. This will be exemplified for enzymes of bioenergetic pathways.

Considerations on muscle contraction

The independent force generator and the power-stroke cross-bridge model have dominated the thinking on mechanisms of muscular contraction for nearly the past five decades. Here, we review the evolution of the cross-bridge theory from its origins as a two-state model to the current thinking of a multi-state mechanical model that is tightly coupled with the hydrolysis of ATP. Finally, we emphasize the role of skeletal muscle myosin II as a molecular motor whose actions are greatly influenced by Brownian motion. We briefly consider the conceptual idea of myosin II working as a ratchet rather than a power stroke model, an idea that is explored in detail in the companion paper.

Cross-bridge action: present views, prospects, and unknowns

When the sliding filament hypothesis was proposed in 1953-1954, existing evidence showed that (1) contributions to tension were given by active sites uniformly distributed within each zone of filament overlap and (2) each site functioned cyclically. These sites were identified by electron microscopy as cross-bridges between the two filaments, formed of the heads of myosin molecules projecting from a thick filament and attaching to a thin filament. The angle of these cross-bridges was found to be different at rest and in rigor, suggesting that the event causing relative motion of the filaments was a change of the angle of the cross-bridges. At first, it seemed likely that the whole cross-bridge rotated about its attachment to actin, but when the atomic structures of actin and myosin were obtained by X-ray crystallography, a possible hinge was found between the "catalytic domain" which attaches to the actin filament and the "light-chain domain" which appears to act as a lever arm. Two attitudes of the lever arm are now well established, the transition between them being driven by a conformational change coupled to some step in the hydrolysis of ATP, but several recent observations suggest that this is not the whole story: a third attitude has been shown by X-ray crystallography; a non-muscle myosin has been shown to produce its working stroke in two steps; and there are suggestions that an additional displacement of the filaments is produced by a change in the attitude of the catalytic domain on the thin filament.

Mechanics and models of the myosin motor

In striated muscles, shortening comes about by the sliding movement of thick filaments, composed mostly of myosin, relative to thin filaments, composed mostly of actin. This is brought about by cyclic action of 'cross-bridges' composed of the heads of myosin molecules projecting from a thick filament, which attach to an adjacent thin filament, exert force for a limited time and detach, and then repeat this cycle further along the filament. The requisite energy is provided by the hydrolysis of a molecule of adenosine triphosphate to the diphosphate and inorganic phosphate, the steps of this reaction being coupled to mechanical events within the cross-bridge. The nature of these events is discussed. There is good evidence that one of them is a change in the angle of tilt of a 'lever arm' relative to the 'catalytic domain' of the myosin head which binds to the actin filament. It is suggested here that this event is superposed on a slower, temperature-sensitive change in the orientation of the catalytic domain on the actin filament. Many uncertainties remain.