Other thin filament proteins

Apart from the phosphorylation theory, other regulatory mechanisms have also been suggested for smooth muscle contraction. A thin-filament protein that has been proposed as a regulatory component is caldesmon [102], Purified caldesmon is a potent inhibitor of actin-tropomyosin interaction with myosin. The mechanisms by which calcium removes this inhibition are controversial. Furthermore, phosphorylation of caldesmon by a caldesmon kinase in vitro has also been implicated in this... 

Proteins can be broadly classified into fibrous and globular. Many fibrous proteins serve a stmctural role (11). CC-Keratin has been described. Fibroin, the primary protein in silk, has -sheets packed one on top of another. CoUagen, found in connective tissue, has a triple-hehcal stmcture. Other fibrous proteins have a motile function. Skeletal muscle fibers are made up of thick filaments consisting of the protein myosin, and thin filaments consisting of actin, troponin, and tropomyosin. Muscle contraction is achieved when these filaments sHde past each other. Microtubules and flagellin are proteins responsible for the motion of ciUa and bacterial dageUa. 

Both the thick and thin filaments contain other proteins. For example, the thick filament contains titin (molecular weight about 3,000,000) and the thin filament contains nebulin (although not in cardiac muscle), and the regulatory proteins troponin (molecular weight about 33,000) and tropomyosin (molecular weight about 70,000). Nebulin and titin are thought to be ruler proteins, that is, they determine the overall length of the thin and the thick filament, respectively. The... 

In addition to actin and myosin, other proteins are found in the two sets of filaments. Tropomyosin and a complex of three subunits collectively called troponin are present in the thin filaments and play an important role in the regulation of muscle contraction. Although the proteins constituting the M and the Z bands have not been fully characterized, they include a-actinin and desmin as well as the enzyme creatine kinase, together with other proteins. A continuous elastic network of proteins, such as connectin, surround the actin and myosin filaments, providing muscle with a parallel passive elastic element. Actin forms the backbone of the thin filaments [4]. The thin... 

Figure 13.6 Myosin and actin molecules and myosin crossbridges. Each kind of filament is composed of a different protein myosin in the thick filaments and actin in the thin filaments. In the case of actin, the individual F-actins are more or less spherical but a large number of these combine to produce a long chain, two of which wind around each other, rather like a rope, to produce the thin filament. The myosin molecule is more complex and shaped somewhat like a golf club. To form the thick filament, the shafts aggregate to leave the heads protruding on all sides. These heads form the cross-bridges and are responsible for pulling the thin filaments into the spaces between the thick filaments (see Figure 13.5).

Actin (42 kDa) is the most important component of the thin filaments. It represents ca. 20-25% of the muscle proteins. F-actin is also an important component of the cytoskeleton (see p. 204). This filamentous polymer is held in equilibrium with its monomer, G-actin. The other protein components of muscle include tropomyosin and troponin. Tropomyosin... 

The major allergen of molluscan shellfish is tropomyosin, a muscle protein. The term major allergen is used to define proteins that elicit IgE binding in the sera of half or more of patienfs wifh allergies to the specific source (Metcalfe et ah, 1996). Tropomyosin is a ubiquitous muscle protein in all animals. Tropomyosin is a 34- to 36-kDa protein that is highly water soluble and heat stable as evidenced by the fact that tropomyosin can be isolated from fhe water used to boil shrimp (Daul et ah, 1994). Tropomyosin can actually be found in bofh muscle and many nonmuscle cells in animals. In muscle cells, tropomyosin is associated with the thin filaments in muscle and plays a role in the contractile activity of muscle cells. In nonmuscle cells, tropomyosin is found in microfilaments but its fimction is less well imderstood. Tropomyosins are present in all eukaryotic cells. Different isoforms of tropomyosin are found in different types of muscle cells (skeletal, cardiac, smooth), brain, fibroblasts, and other nonmuscle cells. While these tropomyosins are highly homologous, small differences do exist in their... 

Its main protein components are organized as overlapping filaments of two types thin filaments, composed mainly of actin molecules, and thick filaments, composed of myosin molecules. The process of muscular contraction entails a sliding of the two types of filaments past each other. In a fully contracted myofibril the actin and myosin filaments show a maximum overlap with each other. The contraction process involves the breakage and reformation of bridges between the actin and myosin molecules in a reaction that requires the expenditure of ATP. 

A family of actin-binding proteins that exist in various isoforms. As with other protein isoforms or isoenzymes, the expression of the isoforms is tissue-specific. The interaction of calponin with actin inhibits the actomyosin Mg-ATRase activity. See Winder, S. and Walsh, M., Inhibition of the actinomyosin MgATRase by chicken gizzard calponin. Prog. Clin. Biol. Res. 327, 141-148, 1990 Winder, S.J., Sutherland, C., and Walsh, M.R., Biochemical and functional characterization of smooth muscle calponin, Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 304, 37-51, 1991 Winder, S.J. and Walsh, M.R., Calponin thin filament-linked regulation of smooth muscle contraction. Cell Signal. 5,677-686,1993 el-Mezgueldi, M., Calponin, Int. J. Biochem. 

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