Skeletal muscle thick filaments

Trinick, J. A. (1981). End-filaments A new structural element of vertebrate skeletal muscle thick filaments. / Mol. Biol. 151, 309-314. 

The answer is b. (Murray, pp 48-62. Scriver, pp 3-45. Sack, pp 1-3. Wilson, pp 101-120.) Two kinds of interacting protein filaments are found in skeletal muscle. Thick filaments 15 nm in diameter contain primarily myosin. Thin filaments 7 nm in diameter are composed of actin, troponin, and tropomyosin. The thick and thin filaments slide past one another during muscle contraction. Myosin is an ATPase that binds to thin filaments during contraction, ot-actinin can be found in the Z line. 

Schematic diagram of the organization of skeletal muscle thin filament, showing the position of tropo-myosin and the troponin complex on the actin filament. The binding of Ca " to TnC, the calcium-binding subunit of the troponin complex, removes Tnl, the inhibitory subunit, from actin and thus permits an interaction with a specialized protein, myosin, on neighboring thick muscle filaments (not shown). An ATP-driven conformation change in the myosin head group makes the thick and thin filaments move relative to one another, so that muscle contraction occurs.

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. 

FIGURE 17.12 Electron micrograph of a skeletal muscle myofibril (in longitndinal section). The length of one sarcomere is indicated, as are the A and I bands, the H zone, the M disk, and the Z lines. Cross-sections from the H zone show a hexagonal array of thick filaments, whereas the I band cross-section shows a hexagonal array of thin filaments. (Photo courtesy of Hugh Huxley, Brandeis University)... 

Figure 1. Muscle development. A skeletal muscle fiber is formed by the fusion of many single cells (myoblasts) into a multinucleated myotube. Myotubes then develop into the muscle fiber (see text). Sarcomeres form in longitudinal structures called myofibrils. The repeating structure of the sarcomere contains interdigitating thick and thin filaments.

The myofibrils of skeletal muscle contain thick and thin filaments. The thick filaments contain myosin. The thin filaments contain actin, tropomyosin, and the troponin complex (troponins T, I, and C). 

Internally, muscle fibers are highly organized. Each fiber contains numerous myofibrils — cylindrical structures that also lie parallel to the long axis of the muscle. The myofibrils are composed of thick filaments and thin filaments. It is the arrangement of these filaments that creates alternating light and dark bands observed microscopically along the muscle fiber. Thus, skeletal muscle is also referred to as striated muscle. 

The contractile elements in smooth muscle are not organized into sarcomeres. Furthermore, the resting length of smooth muscle is much shorter than its optimal length. In other words, this muscle can be significantly stretched and the amount of tension developed may actually increase because the muscle is closer to its optimal length. Finally, thick filaments are longer in smooth muscle than they are in skeletal muscle. As a result, overlap... 

Actin filaments are the thinnest of the cytoskeletal filaments, and therefore also called microfilaments. Polymerized actin monomers form long, thin fibers of about 8 nm in diameter. Along with the above-mentioned function of the cytoskeleton, actin interacts with myosin ( thick ) filaments in skeletal muscle fibers to provide the force of muscular contraction. Actin/Myosin interactions also help produce cytoplasmic streaming in most cells. 

Contractile proteins which form the myofibrils are of two types myosin ( thick filaments each approximately 12 nm in diameter and 1.5 (im long) and actin ( thin filaments 6nm diameter and 1 (Am in length). These two proteins are found not only in muscle cells but widely throughout tissues being part of the cytoskeleton of all cell types. Filamentous actin (F-actin) is a polymer composed of two entwined chains each composed of globular actin (G-actin) monomers. Skeletal muscle F-actin has associated with it two accessory proteins, tropomyosin and troponin complex which are not found in smooth muscle, and which act to regulate the contraction cycle (Figure 7.1). 

Figure 1.12 Diagrammatic interpretation of contraction in a myo-fibril of skeletal muscle. The diagram shows a single sarcomere, the basic contractile unit, limited at each end by a Z-disc. Muscle fibres are packed with hundreds of parallel myofibrils, each of which consists of many, often thousands, of sarcomeres arranged end to end. Contraction is the conseguence of the thin actin filaments being pulled over the thick filaments to increase the region of overlap and telescope the sarcomere.

The striation of the muscle fibers is characteristic of skeletal muscle. It results from the regular arrangement of molecules of differing density. The repeating contractile units, the sarcomeres, are bounded by Z lines from which thin filaments of F-actin (see p. 204) extend on each side. In the A bands, there are also thick parallel filaments of myosin. The H bands in the middle of the A bands only contain myosin, while only actin is found on each size of the Z lines. 

Figure 5.14 Schematic diagram showing interaction of thick and thin filaments in skeletal muscle contraction. (Adapted from Stryer, 1975.)...

FIGURE 5-31 Structure of skeletal muscle, (a) Muscle fibers consist of single, elongated, multinucleated cells that arise from the fusion of many precursor cells. Within the fibers are many myofibrils (only six are shown here for simplicity) surrounded by the membranous sarcoplasmic reticulum. The organization of thick and thin filaments in the myofibril gives it a striated appearance. When muscle contracts, the I bands narrow and the Z disks come closer together, as seen in electron micrographs of (b) relaxed and (c) contracted muscle. 

Under the electron microscope the myosin heads can sometimes be seen to be attached to the nearby thin actin filaments as crossbridges. When skeletal muscle is relaxed (not activated by a nerve impulse), the crossbridges are not attached, and the muscle can be stretched readily. The thin filaments are free to move past the thick filaments, and the muscle has some of the properties of a weak rubber band. However, when the muscle is activated and under tension, the crossbridges form more frequently. When ATP is exhausted (e.g., after death) muscle enters the state of rigor in which the crossbridges can be seen by electron... 

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram showing the interaction of the myosin thick filaments and the actin thin filaments during skeletal muscle contraction.

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