Week 11 Flashcards
Structure of myosin II thick filaments
- Coiled coil of two a helices
- Neck or hinge region on N-terminus
- Light chain on N-terminus
- Exists in dimer form with light chains and heavy chains
Myosin motor domains walk along what type of protein?
Actin filaments.
Why do myosin II thick filaments have a bare zone in the middle?
Because the filaments are aligned in an anti-parallel fashion, there is a bare zone in the filament.
Why is it important that muscle fibers are multinucleated?
This allows the fiber (cell) to be extremely large.
What is the dark band in sarcomeres composed of?
Myosin thick filaments
What is the light band in sarcomeres composed of?
Actin thin filaments
During contraction, how do the sarcomere, myosin filaments, and actin filaments move?
Sarcomere shrinks but length of myosin filament and actin filaments unchanged.
What is the physical basis of sarcomere contraction?
The walking of myosin heads on actin is the basis of contraction. As myosin walks, it pulls its filament with it, resulting in contraction.
Role of titin
A pair of titin proteins holds myosin thick filament in the center.
Role of nebulin
Nebulin determines the length of the actin filaments. It coats the actin filament.
Role of CapZ in sarcomere
CapZ caps the plus ends of actin filaments.
Importance of capping actin in the sarcomere
Half-life of actin in these filaments is days, rather than seconds to minutes like for filaments in other cells. The actin filament on both sides must be capped on plus and minus sides to prevent disassembly
Role of tropomodulin in sarcomere
Tropomodulin caps the minus end of the actin filament
How is troponin C related to calmodulin?
Like calmodulin, troponin C binds Ca2+
tropomyosin in absence of Ca2+
In absence of Ca2+, tropomyosin prevents myosin heads from interacting with actin filaments.
tropomyosin in presence of Ca2+
Binding of Ca2+ to troponin C results in tropomyosin snapping out of the way, letting myosin heads make contact with the actin filaments and to allow contraction.
Role of sarcoplasmic reticulum on myofibrils
Sarcoplasmic reticulum forms an extensive net-like structure that covers the myofibrils, allowing Ca2+ released from it to flood the entire muscle cell.
The inside of the T tubule is a part of what environment?
The inside of the T tubule is part of the external environment.
After an action potential, how is Ca2+ restored to resting levels?
Ca2+ in cytosol restored to resting levels in 30 ms via Ca2+ pumps (Ca2+ - ATPase) after an action potential
Relationship between voltage-gated Ca2+ channels in T-tubule and in SR
Voltage-gated Ca2+ channels in T-tubule membrane open in response to depolarization.
They are physically coupled to the Ca2+ channels in the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
Structure of microtubules
- Asymmetric, just like actin.
- All subunits stacked in same orientation so alpha always facing minus end and beta always facing plus end.
- Can be several mm long.
- Grows more rapidly at the plus end just like actin
Difference between minus and plus ends of microtubule
- Minus end has a-tubulin facing cytoplasm
- Plus end has B-tubulin facing cytoplasm
- This is the basis of the asymmetry (polarity) of microtubules
Only GTP in which type of tubulin subunit is hydrolyzable to GDP?
B-tubulin
Role of gamma-tubulin ring complex
Gamma-tubulin ring complex acts as a nucleating factor for microtubules, like Arp2/3 complex does for actin.