Fluorescence polarization of skeletal muscle fibers labeled with rhodamine isomers on the myosin heavy chain.

Fluorescence polarization was used to examine orientational changes of Rhodamine probes in single, skinned muscle fibers from rabbit psoas muscle following either photolysis of caged nucleotides or rapid length changes. Fibers were extensively and predominantly labeled at SH1 (Cys-707) of the myosin heavy chain with either the 5- or the 6-isomer of iodoacetamidotetramethylrhodamine. Results from spectroscopic experiments utilizing the two Rhodamine isomers were quite similar. Following photolysis of either caged ATP or caged ADP, probes promptly reoriented toward the muscle fiber axis. Changes in the fluorescence polarization signals with transients elicited by the photolysis of caged ATP in the presence of saturating Ca2+ greatly preceded active force generation. Photolysis of caged ADP caused only a small, rapid decrease in force but elicited changes in the fluorescence polarization signals with time course and amplitude similar to those following photolysis of caged ATP. Fluorescence polarization signals were virtually unchanged by rapid length steps in both rigor and active muscle fibers. These results indicate that structural changes monitored by Rhodamine probes at SH1 are not associated directly with the force-generating event of muscle contraction. However, the fluorescence polarization transients were slightly faster than the estimated rate of cross-bridge detachment following photolysis of caged ATP, suggesting that the observed structural changes at SH1 may be involved in the communication pathway between the nucleotide- and actin-binding sites of myosin.     

The myosin cross-bridge cycle and its control by twitchin phosphorylation in catch muscle

The anterior byssus retractor muscle of Mytilus edulis was used to characterize the myosin cross-bridge during catch, a state of tonic force maintenance with a very low rate of energy utilization. Addition of MgATP to permeabilized muscles in high force rigor at pCa > 8 results in a rapid loss of some force followed by a very slow rate of relaxation that is characteristic of catch. The fast component is slowed 3-4-fold in the presence of 1 mM MgADP, but the distribution between the fast and slow (catch) components is not dependent on [MgADP]. Phosphorylation of twitchin results in loss of the catch component. Fewer than 4% of the myosin heads have ADP bound in rigor, and the time course (0.2-10 s) of ADP formation following release of ATP from caged ATP is similar whether or not twitchin is phosphorylated. This suggests that MgATP binding to the cross-bridge and subsequent splitting are independent of twitchin phosphorylation, but detachment occurs only if twitchin is phosphorylated. A similar dependence of detachment on twitchin phosphorylation is seen with AMP-PNP and ATPgammaS. Single turnover experiments on bound ADP suggest an increase in the rate of release of ADP from the cross-bridge when catch is released by phosphorylation of twitchin. Low [Ca(2+)] and unphosphorylated twitchin appear to cause catch by 1) markedly slowing ADP release from attached cross-bridges and 2) preventing detachment following ATP binding to the rigor cross-bridge.     

Paramagnetic probes attached to a light chain on the myosin head are highly disordered in active muscle fibers.

We have measured the orientation of a region of the myosin head, close to the junction with the rod, during active force generation. Paramagnetic probes were attached specifically to a reactive cysteine (Cys 125) of purified myosin light chain 2 (LC2) and exchanged into myosin heads in glycerinated rabbit psoas muscle. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to monitor the orientation of the probes. Previous work has shown that the LC2 bound spin probes are significantly ordered in rigor and muscle in the presence of adenosine diphosphate (ADP). In contrast, there is a nearly random angular distribution in relaxed muscle. We show here that during the generation of isometric tension, all of the LC2 bound spin probes (98 +/- 1.6%) show an angular distribution similar to that of relaxed muscle. These findings contrast with results obtained from probes attached to Cys 707 on the cross-bridge, located close to the actin binding site, where, during active force generation, a proportion of the spin probes were ordered as in rigor, whereas the remaining probes were disordered as in relaxation. To test the hypothesis that this ordered component is due to modification of Cys 707, we measured the spectra obtained from probes attached to LC2 in fibers modified at Cys 707. The modification of Cys 707 did not produce an ordered component in these spectra. The absence of an ordered component at the LC2 site limits the populations of some states in active fibers. An actin/myosin/ADP state is thought to be the major force-producing state. Our present results show that the populations of states with ordered probes on LC2 are < 2% in active fibers; thus, the major force-producing state is different from the one obtained by addition of ADP to rigor fibers.     

Suppression of muscle contraction by vanadate. Mechanical and ligand binding studies on glycerol-extracted rabbit fibers

The suppression of tension development by orthovanadate (Vi) was studied in mechanical experiments and by measuring the binding of radioactive Vi and nucleotides to glycerol-extracted rabbit muscle fibers. During active contractions, Vi bound to the cross-bridges and suppressed tension with an apparent second-order rate constant of 1.34 X 10(3) M-1s-1. The half-saturation concentration for tension suppression was 94 microM Vi. The incubation of fibers in Vi relaxing or rigor solutions prior to initiation of active contractions had little effect on the initial rise of active tension. The addition of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and Vi to fibers in rigor did not cause relaxation. Suppression of tension only developed during cross-bridge cycling. After slow relaxation from rigor in 1 mM Vi and low (50 microM) MgATP concentration (0 Ca2+), radioactive Vi and ADP were trapped within the fiber. This finding indicated the formation of a stable myosin X ADP X Vi complex, as has been reported in biochemical experiments with isolated myosin. Vi and ADP trapped within the fibers were released only by subsequent cross-bridge attachment. Vi and ADP were preferentially trapped under conditions of cross-bridge cycling in the presence of ATP rather than in relaxed fibers or in rigor with ADP. These results indicate that in the normal cross-bridge cycle, inorganic phosphate (Pi) is released from actomyosin before ADP. The resulting actomyosin X ADP intermediate can bind Vi and Pi. This intermediate probably supports force. Vi behaves as a close analogue of Pi in muscle fibers, as it does with isolated actomyosin.     

Relaxation from rigor of skinned trabeculae of the guinea pig induced by laser photolysis of caged ATP.

The kinetics of ATP-induced rigor cross-bridge detachment were studied by initiating relaxation in chemically skinned trabeculae of the guinea pig heart using photolytic release of ATP in the absence of calcium ions (pCa > 8). The time course of the fall in tension exhibited either an initial plateau phase of variable duration with little change in tension or a rise in tension, followed by a decrease to relaxed levels. The in-phase component of tissue stiffness initially decreased. The rate then slowed near the end of the tension plateau, indicating transient cross-bridge rebinding, before falling to relaxed levels. Estimates of the apparent second-order rate constant for ATP-induced detachment of rigor cross-bridges based on the half-time for relaxation or on the half-time to the convergence of tension records to a common time course were similar at 3 x 10(3) M-1 s-1. Because the characteristics of the mechanical transients observed during relaxation from rigor were markedly similar to those reported from studies of rabbit psoas fibers in the presence of MgADP (Dantzig, J. A., M. G. Hibberd, D. R. Trentham, and Y. E. Goldman. 1991. Cross-bridge kinetics in the presence of MgADP investigated by photolysis of caged ATP in rabbit psoas muscle fibres. J. Physiol. 432:639-680), direct measurements of MgADP using [3H]ATP in cardiac tissue in rigor were made. Results indicated that during rigor, nearly 18% of the cross-bridges in skinned trabeculae had [3H]MgADP bound. Incubation of the tissue during rigor with apyrase, an enzyme with both ADPase and ATPase activity, reduced the level of [3H]MgADP to that measured following a 2-min chase in a solution containing 5 mM unlabeled MgATP. Apyrase incubation also significantly reduced the tension and stiffness transients, so that both time courses became monotonic and could be fit with a simple model for cross-bridge detachment. The apparent second-order rate constant for ATP-induced rigor cross-bridge detachment measured in the apyrase treated tissue at 4 x 10(4) M-1 s-1 was faster than that measured in untreated tissue. Nevertheless, this rate was still over an order of magnitude slower than the analogous rate measured in previous studies of isolated cardiac actomyosin-S1. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the presence of MgADP bound cross-bridges suppresses the inhibition normally imposed by the thin filament regulatory system in the absence of calcium ions and allows cross-bridge rebinding and force production during relaxation from rigor.     

Correlation between mechanical and enzymatic events in contracting skeletal muscle fiber

The conventional hypothesis of muscle contraction postulates that the interaction between actin and myosin involves tight coupling between the power stroke and hydrolysis of ATP. However, some in vitro experiments suggested that hydrolysis of a single molecule of ATP caused multiple mechanical cycles. To test whether the tight coupling is present in contracting muscle, we simultaneously followed mechanical and enzymatic events in a small population of cross-bridges of glycerinated rabbit psoas fibers. Such small population behaves as a single cross-bridge when muscle contraction is initiated by a sudden release of caged ATP. Mechanical events were measured by changes of orientation of probes bound to the regulatory domain of myosin. Enzymatic events were simultaneously measured from the same cross-bridge population by the release of fluorescent ADP from the active site. If the conventional view were true, ADP desorption would occur simultaneously with dissociation of cross-bridges from thin filaments and would be followed by cross-bridge rebinding to thin filaments. Such sequence of events was indeed observed in contracting muscle fibers, suggesting that mechanical and enzymatic events are tightly coupled in vivo.     

Mechanical transients initiated by photolysis of caged ATP within fibers of insect fibrillar flight muscle

Kinetics of the cross-bridge cycle in insect fibrillar flight muscle have been measured using laser pulse photolysis of caged ATP and caged inorganic phosphate (Pi) to produce rapid step increases in the concentration of ATP and Pi within single glycerol-extracted fibers. Rapid photochemical liberation of 100 microM-1 mM ATP from caged ATP within a fiber caused relaxation in the absence of Ca2+ and initiated an active contraction in the presence of approximately 30 microM Ca2+. The apparent second order rate constant for detachment of rigor cross-bridges by ATP was between 5 x 10(4) and 2 x 10(5) M-1s-1. This rate is not appreciably sensitive to the Ca2+ or Pi concentrations or to rigor tension level. The value is within an order of magnitude of the analogous reaction rate constant measured with isolated actin and insect myosin subfragment-1 (1986. J. Muscle Res. Cell Motil. 7:179-192). In both the absence and presence of Ca2+ insect fibers showed evidence of transient cross-bridge reattachment after ATP-induced detachment from rigor, as found in corresponding experiments on rabbit psoas fibers. However, in contrast to results with rabbit fibers, tension traces of insect fibers starting at different rigor tensions did not converge to a common time course until late in the transients. This result suggests that the proportion of myosin cross-bridges that can reattach into force-generating states depends on stress or strain in the filament lattice. A steady 10-mM concentration of Pi markedly decreased the transient reattachment phase after caged ATP photolysis. Pi also decreased the amplitude of stretch activation after step stretches applied in the presence of Ca2+ and ATP. Photolysis of caged Pi during stretch activation abruptly terminated the development of tension. These results are consistent with a linkage between Pi release and the steps leading to force production in the cross-bridge cycle.     

Photolytic release of MgADP reduces rigor force in smooth muscle

Photolytic release of MgADP (25-300 microM) from caged ADP in permeabilized tonic (rabbit femoral artery-Rfa) and phasic (rabbit bladder-Rbl) smooth muscle in high-tension rigor state, in the absence of Ca(2+), caused an exponential decline (approximately 1.5% in Rfa and approximately 6% in Rbl) of rigor force, with the rate proportional to the liberated [MgADP]. The apparent second-order rate constant of MgADP binding was estimated as approximately 1.0 x 10(6) M(-1) s(-1) for both smooth muscles. In control experiments, designed to test the specificity of MgADP, photolysis of caged ADP in the absence of Mg(2+) did not decrease rigor force in either smooth muscle, but rigor force decreased after photolytic release of Mg(2+) in the presence of ADP. The effects of photolysis of caged ADP were similar in smooth muscles containing thiophosphorylated or non-phosphorylated regulatory myosin light chains. Stretching or releasing (within range of 0.1-1.2% of initial Ca(2+)-activated force) did not affect the rate or relative amplitude of the force decrease. The effect of additions of MgADP to rigor cross-bridges could result from rotation of the lever arm of smooth muscle myosin, but this need not imply that ADP-release is a significant force-producing step of the physiological cross-bridge cycle.     

Cross-bridge scheme and force per cross-bridge state in skinned rabbit psoas muscle fibers.

The rate and association constants (kinetic constants) which comprise a seven state cross-bridge scheme were deduced by sinusoidal analysis in chemically skinned rabbit psoas muscle fibers at 20 degrees C, 200 mM ionic strength, and during maximal Ca2+ activation (pCa 4.54-4.82). The kinetic constants were then used to calculate the steady state probability of cross-bridges in each state as the function of MgATP, MgADP, and phosphate (Pi) concentrations. This calculation showed that 72% of available cross-bridges were (strongly) attached during our control activation (5 mM MgATP, 8 mM Pi), which agreed approximately with the stiffness ratio (active:rigor, 69 +/- 3%); active stiffness was measured during the control activation, and rigor stiffness after an induction of the rigor state. By assuming that isometric tension is a linear combination of probabilities of cross-bridges in each state, and by measuring tension as the function of MgATP, MgADP, and Pi concentrations, we deduced the force associated with each cross-bridge state. Data from the osmotic compression of muscle fibers by dextran T500 were used to deduce the force associated with one of the cross-bridge states. Our results show that force is highest in the AM*ADP.Pi state (A = actin, M = myosin). Since the state which leads into the AM*ADP.Pi state is the weakly attached AM.ADP.Pi state, we confirm that the force development occurs on Pi isomerization (AM.ADP.Pi --> AM*ADP.Pi). Our results also show that a minimal force change occurs with the release of Pi or MgADP, and that force declines gradually with ADP isomerization (AM*ADP -->AM.ADP), ATP isomerization (AM+ATP-->AM*ATP), and with cross-bridge detachment. Force of the AM state agreed well with force measured after induction of the rigor state, indicating that the AM state is a close approximation of the rigor state. The stiffness results obtained as functions of MgATP, MgADP, and Pi concentrations were generally consistent with the cross-bridge scheme.     

Cardiac Myosin Binding Protein C Phosphorylation Affects Cross-Bridge Cycle's Elementary Steps in a Site-Specific Manner

Based on our recent finding that cardiac myosin binding protein C (cMyBP-C) phosphorylation affects muscle contractility in a site-specific manner, we further studied the force per cross-bridge and the kinetic constants of the elementary steps in the six-state cross-bridge model in cMyBP-C mutated transgenic mice for better understanding of the influence of cMyBP-C phosphorylation on contractile functions. Papillary muscle fibres were dissected from cMyBP-C mutated mice of ADA (Ala273-Asp282-Ala302), DAD (Asp273-Ala282-Asp302), SAS (Ser273-Ala282-Ser302), and t/t (cMyBP-C null) genotypes, and the results were compared to transgenic mice expressing wide-type (WT) cMyBP-C. Sinusoidal analyses were performed with serial concentrations of ATP, phosphate (Pi), and ADP. Both t/t and DAD mutants significantly reduced active tension, force per cross-bridge, apparent rate constant (2πc), and the rate constant of cross-bridge detachment. In contrast to the weakened ATP binding and enhanced Pi and ADP release steps in t/t mice, DAD mice showed a decreased ADP release without affecting the ATP binding and the Pi release. ADA showed decreased ADP release, and slightly increased ATP binding and cross-bridge detachment steps, whereas SAS diminished the ATP binding step and accelerated the ADP release step. t/t has the broadest effects with changes in most elementary steps of the cross-bridge cycle, DAD mimics t/t to a large extent, and ADA and SAS predominantly affect the nucleotide binding steps. We conclude that the reduced tension production in DAD and t/t is the result of reduced force per cross-bridge, instead of the less number of strongly attached cross-bridges. We further conclude that cMyBP-C is an allosteric activator of myosin to increase cross-bridge force, and its phosphorylation status modulates the force, which is regulated by variety of protein kinases.     

Activation of skinned trabeculae of the guinea pig induced by laser photolysis of caged ATP.

The kinetics of force production in chemically skinned trabeculae from the guinea pig were studied by laser photolysis of caged ATP in the presence of Ca2+. Preincubation of the tissue during rigor with the enzyme apyrase was used to reduce the population of MgADP-bound cross-bridges (Martin and Barsotti, 1994). In untreated tissue, tension remained constant or dipped slightly below the rigor level immediately after ATP release, before increasing to the maximum measured in pCa 4.5 and 5 mM MgATP. The in-phase component stiffness, which is a measure of cross-bridge attachment, exhibited a large decrease before increasing to 55% of that measured in rigor. Neither the rate of the decline nor of the rise in tension was sensitive to the concentration of photolytically released ATP. The rate of the decline in stiffness was found to be dependent on [ATP]: 1.8 x 10(4) M-1/s-1, a value more than four times higher than that previously measured in similar experiments in the absence of Ca2+. The rate of tension development averaged 14.9 +/- 2.5 s-1. Preincubation with apyrase altered the mechanical characteristics of the early phase of the contraction. The rate and amplitude of the initial drop in both tension and stiffness after caged ATP photolysis increased and became dependent on [ATP]. The second-order rate constants measured for the initial drop in tension and stiffness were 8.4 x 10(4) M-1 s-1 and 1.5 x 10(5) M-1 s-1. These rates are more than two times faster than those previously measured in the absence of Ca2+. The effects of apyrase incubation on the time course of tension and stiffness were consistent with the hypothesis that during rigor, skinned trabeculae retain a significant population of MgADP-bound cross-bridges. These in turn act to attenuate the initial drop in tension after caged ATP photolysis and slow the apparent rate of rigor cross-bridge detachment. The results also show that Ca2+ increases the rate of cross-bridge detachment in both untreated and apyrase-treated tissue, but the effect is larger in untreated tissue. This suggests that in cardiac muscle Ca2+ modulates the rate of cross-bridge detachment.     

Millisecond-scale biochemical response to change in strain

Muscle fiber contraction involves the cyclical interaction of myosin cross-bridges with actin filaments, linked to hydrolysis of ATP that provides the required energy. We show here the relationship between cross-bridge states, force generation, and Pi release during ramp stretches of active mammalian skeletal muscle fibers at 20°C. The results show that force and Pi release respond quickly to the application of stretch: force rises rapidly, whereas the rate of Pi release decreases abruptly and remains low for the duration of the stretch. These measurements show that biochemical change on the millisecond timescale accompanies the mechanical and structural responses in active muscle fibers. A cross-bridge model is used to simulate the effect of stretch on the distribution of actomyosin cross-bridges, force, and Pi release, with explicit inclusion of ATP, ADP, and Pi in the biochemical states and length-dependence of transitions. In the simulation, stretch causes rapid detachment and reattachment of cross-bridges without release of Pi or ATP hydrolysis.     

Cross-bridge kinetics, cooperativity, and negatively strained cross- bridges in vertebrate smooth muscle. A laser-flash photolysis study

The effects of laser-flash photolytic release of ATP from caged ATP [P3-1(2-nitrophenyl)ethyladenosine-5'-triphosphate] on stiffness and tension transients were studied in permeabilized guinea pig protal vein smooth muscle. During rigor, induced by removing ATP from the relaxed or contracting muscles, stiffness was greater than in relaxed muscle, and electron microscopy showed cross-bridges attached to actin filaments at an approximately 45 degree angle. In the absence of Ca2+, liberation of ATP (0.1-1 mM) into muscles in rigor caused relaxation, with kinetics indicating cooperative reattachment of some cross-bridges. Inorganic phosphate (Pi; 20 mM) accelerated relaxation. A rapid phase of force development, accompanied by a decline in stiffness and unaffected by 20 mM Pi, was observed upon liberation of ATP in muscles that were released by 0.5-1.0% just before the laser pulse. This force increment observed upon detachment suggests that the cross-bridges can bear a negative tension. The second-order rate constant for detachment of rigor cross-bridges by ATP, in the absence of Ca2+, was estimated to be 0.1-2.5 X 10(5) M-1s-1, which indicates that this reaction is too fast to limit the rate of ATP hydrolysis during physiological contractions. In the presence of Ca2+, force development occurred at a rate (0.4 s-1) similar to that of intact, electrically stimulated tissue. The rate of force development was an order of magnitude faster in muscles that had been thiophosphorylated with ATP gamma S before the photochemical liberation of ATP, which indicates that under physiological conditions, in non-thiophosphorylated muscles, light-chain phosphorylation, rather than intrinsic properties of the actomyosin cross-bridges, limits the rate of force development. The release of micromolar ATP or CTP from caged ATP or caged CTP caused force development of up to 40% of maximal active tension in the absence of Ca2+, consistent with cooperative attachment of cross-bridges. Cooperative reattachment of dephosphorylated cross-bridges may contribute to force maintenance at low energy cost and low cross-bridge cycling rates in smooth muscle.     

Changes in muscle crossbridges when β,γ-imido-ATP binds to myosin

We have studied the binding of β,γ-imido-adenosine-5′-triphosphate to glycerol-extracted insect flight and rabbit back muscle fibres. The binding was at relatively high affinity, of the same quantity as that of other nucleotides, and was inhibited by the presence of ATP. We concluded that imido-ATP bound, without hydrolysis, at the enzymic site of myosin. The mechanical effects of imido-ATP on the glycerol-extracted fibres were measured: concentrations sufficient to bind to myosin caused a small increase in the length of the rigor muscle for a given tension without alteration in the shape of the length-tension diagram. The magnitude of the length change paralleled the binding curve of imido-ATP to the fibre. We concluded that binding caused some change in myosin without its detachment from actin. Electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction studies of glycerol-extracted flight muscle fibres showed an increase in the angle of attachment of myosin to actin when imido-ATP was added. The results are discussed in relation to current concepts of force generation in active muscle.     

Conformation of myosin interdomain interactions during contraction: deductions from muscle fibers using polarized fluorescence

Myosin cross-bridge subfragment 1 (S1) is the ATP catalyzing motor protein in muscle. It consists of three domains that catalyze ATP and bind actin (catalytic), conduct energy transduction (converter), and transport the load (lever arm). Force development during contraction is thought to result from rotary lever arm movement with the cross-bridge attached to actin. To elucidate cross-bridge structure during force development, two crystal structures of S1 were extrapolated to working "in solution" or oriented "in tissue" forms, using structure-sensitive optical spectroscopic signals from two extrinsic probes. The probes were located at two interfaces containing the catalytic, converter, and lever arm domains of S1. Observed signals included circular dichroism (CD) and absorption originating from S1 in solution in the presence and absence of actin and fluorescence polarization from cross-bridges in muscle fibers. Theoretical signals were calculated from S1 crystal structure models perturbed with lever arm movement from swiveling at three conserved glycines, 699, 703, and 710 (chicken skeletal myosin numbering). Best agreement between the computed and observed signals gave structures showing that actin binding to S1 causes movement of the lever arm. A three-state model of S1 conformation during contraction consists of three actin-bound cross-bridge states observed from muscle fibers in isometric contraction, in the presence of MgADP, and in rigor. Structures best representing these states show that most of the lever arm rotation occurs between isometric contraction and the MgADP states, i.e., during phosphate release. Smaller but significant lever arm rotation occurs with ADP dissociation. Structural changes within the S1 interfaces studied are discussed in the accompanying paper [Burghardt et al. (2001) Biochemistry 40, 4834-4843].     

A birefringence study of changes in myosin orientation during relaxation of skinned muscle fibers induced by photolytic ATP release.

The birefringence of isolated skinned fibers from rabbit psoas muscle was measured continuously during relaxation from rigor produced by photolysis of caged ATP at sarcomere length 2.8-2.9 microns, ionic strength 0.1 M, 15 degrees C. Birefringence, the difference in refractive index between light components polarized parallel and perpendicular to the fiber axis, depends on the average degree of alignment of the myosin head domain with the fiber axis. After ATP release birefringence increased by 5.8 +/- 0.7% (mean +/- SE, n = 6) with two temporal components. A small fast component had an amplitude of 0.9 +/- 0.2% and rate constant of 63 s-1. By the completion of this component, the instantaneous stiffness had decreased to about half the rigor value, and the force response to a step stretch showed a rapid (approximately 1000 s-1) recovery phase. Subsequently a large slow birefringence component with rate constant 5.1 s-1 accompanied isometric force relaxation. Inorganic phosphate (10 mM) did not affect the fast birefringence component but accelerated the slow component and force relaxation. The fast birefringence component was probably caused by formation of myosin.ATP or myosin.ADP.Pi states that are weakly bound to actin. The average myosin head orientation at the end of this component is slightly more parallel to the fiber axis than in rigor.     

Changes in orientation of actin during contraction of muscle

It is well documented that muscle contraction results from cyclic rotations of actin-bound myosin cross-bridges. The role of actin is hypothesized to be limited to accelerating phosphate release from myosin and to serving as a rigid substrate for cross-bridge rotations. To test this hypothesis, we have measured actin rotations during contraction of a skeletal muscle. Actin filaments of rabbit psoas fiber were labeled with rhodamine-phalloidin. Muscle contraction was induced by a pulse of ATP photogenerated from caged precursor. ATP induced a single turnover of cross-bridges. The rotations were measured by anisotropy of fluorescence originating from a small volume defined by a narrow aperture of a confocal microscope. The anisotropy of phalloidin-actin changed rapidly at first and was followed by a slow relaxation to a steady-state value. The kinetics of orientation changes of actin and myosin were the same. Extracting myosin abolished anisotropy changes. To test whether the rotation of actin was imposed by cross-bridges or whether it reflected hydrolytic activity of actin itself, we labeled actin with fluorescent ADP. The time-course of anisotropy change of fluorescent nucleotide was similar to that of phalloidin-actin. These results suggest that orientation changes of actin are caused by dissociation and rebinding of myosin cross-bridges, and that during contraction, nucleotide does not dissociate from actin.     

The mechanism of muscle contraction

Knowledge of the mechanism of contraction has been obtained from studies of the interaction of actin and myosin in solution, from an elucidation of the structure of muscle fibers, and from measurements of the mechanics and energetics of fiber contraction. Many of the states and the transition rates between them have been established for the hydrolysis of ATP by actin and myosin subfragments in solution. A major goal is to now understand how the kinetics of this interaction are altered when it occurs in the organized array of the myofibril. Early work on the structure of muscle suggested that changes in the orientation of myosin cross-bridges were responsible for the generation of force. More recently, fluorescent and paramagnetic probes attached to the cross-bridges have suggested that at least some domains of the cross-bridges do not change orientation during force generation. A number of properties of active cross-bridges have been defined by measurements of steady state contractions of fibers and by the transients which follow step changes in fiber length or tension. Taken together these studies have provided firm evidence that force is generated by a cyclic interaction in which a myosin cross-bridge attaches to actin, exerts force through a "powerstroke" of 12 nm, and is then released by the binding of ATP. The mechanism of this interaction at the molecular level remains unknown.