Single-molecule atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to investigate the mechanical properties of titin, the giant sarcomeric protein of striated muscle. Individual titin molecules were repeatedly stretched, and the applied force was recorded as a function of the elongation. At large extensions, the restoring force exhibited a sawtoothlike pattern, with a periodicity that varied between 25 and 28 nanometers. Measurements of recombinant titin immunoglobulin segments of two different lengths exhibited the same pattern and allowed attribution of the discontinuities to the unfolding of individual immunoglobulin domains. The forces required to unfold individual domains ranged from 150 to 300 piconewtons and depended on the pulling speed. Upon relaxation, refolding of immunoglobulin domains was observed.

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Reversible Unfolding of Individual Titin Immunoglobulin Domains by AFM

Mammalian skeletal muscle comprises different fiber types, whose identity is first established during embryonic development by intrinsic myogenic control mechanisms and is later modulated by neural and hormonal factors. The relative proportion of the different fiber types varies strikingly between species, and in humans shows significant variability between individuals. Myosin heavy chain isoforms, whose complete inventory and expression pattern are now available, provide a useful marker for fiber types, both for the four major forms present in trunk and limb muscles and the minor forms present in head and neck muscles. However, muscle fiber diversity involves all functional muscle cell compartments, including membrane excitation, excitation-contraction coupling, contractile machinery, cytoskeleton scaffold, and energy supply systems. Variations within each compartment are limited by the need of matching fiber type properties between different compartments. Nerve activity is a major control mechanism of the fiber type profile, and multiple signaling pathways are implicated in activity-dependent changes of muscle fibers. The characterization of these pathways is raising increasing interest in clinical medicine, given the potentially beneficial effects of muscle fiber type switching in the prevention and treatment of metabolic diseases.

Fiber types in mammalian skeletal muscles.

Ca(2+) regulation of contraction in vertebrate striated muscle is exerted primarily through effects on the thin filament, which regulate strong cross-bridge binding to actin. Structural and biochemical studies suggest that the position of tropomyosin (Tm) and troponin (Tn) on the thin filament determines the interaction of myosin with the binding sites on actin. These binding sites can be characterized as blocked (unable to bind to cross bridges), closed (able to weakly bind cross bridges), or open (able to bind cross bridges so that they subsequently isomerize to become strongly bound and release ATP hydrolysis products). Flexibility of the Tm may allow variability in actin (A) affinity for myosin along the thin filament other than through a single 7 actin:1 tropomyosin:1 troponin (A(7)TmTn) regulatory unit. Tm position on the actin filament is regulated by the occupancy of NH-terminal Ca(2+) binding sites on TnC, conformational changes resulting from Ca(2+) binding, and changes in the interactions among Tn, Tm, and actin and as well as by strong S1 binding to actin. Ca(2+) binding to TnC enhances TnC-TnI interaction, weakens TnI attachment to its binding sites on 1-2 actins of the regulatory unit, increases Tm movement over the actin surface, and exposes myosin-binding sites on actin previously blocked by Tm. Adjacent Tm are coupled in their overlap regions where Tm movement is also controlled by interactions with TnT. TnT also interacts with TnC-TnI in a Ca(2+)-dependent manner. All these interactions may vary with the different protein isoforms. The movement of Tm over the actin surface increases the "open" probability of myosin binding sites on actins so that some are in the open configuration available for myosin binding and cross-bridge isomerization to strong binding, force-producing states. In skeletal muscle, strong binding of cycling cross bridges promotes additional Tm movement. This movement effectively stabilizes Tm in the open position and allows cooperative activation of additional actins in that and possibly neighboring A(7)TmTn regulatory units. The structural and biochemical findings support the physiological observations of steady-state and transient mechanical behavior. Physiological studies suggest the following. 1) Ca(2+) binding to Tn/Tm exposes sites on actin to which myosin can bind. 2) Ca(2+) regulates the strong binding of M.ADP.P(i) to actin, which precedes the production of force (and/or shortening) and release of hydrolysis products. 3) The initial rate of force development depends mostly on the extent of Ca(2+) activation of the thin filament and myosin kinetic properties but depends little on the initial force level. 4) A small number of strongly attached cross bridges within an A(7)TmTn regulatory unit can activate the actins in one unit and perhaps those in neighboring units. This results in additional myosin binding and isomerization to strongly bound states and force production. 5) The rates of the product release steps per se (as indicated by the unloaded shortening velocity) early in shortening are largely independent of the extent of thin filament activation ([Ca(2+)]) beyond a given baseline level. However, with a greater extent of shortening, the rates depend on the activation level. 6) The cooperativity between neighboring regulatory units contributes to the activation by strong cross bridges of steady-state force but does not affect the rate of force development. 7) Strongly attached, cycling cross bridges can delay relaxation in skeletal muscle in a cooperative manner. 8) Strongly attached and cycling cross bridges can enhance Ca(2+) binding to cardiac TnC, but influence skeletal TnC to a lesser extent. 9) Different Tn subunit isoforms can modulate the cross-bridge detachment rate as shown by studies with mutant regulatory proteins in myotubes and in in vitro motility assays. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)

https://www.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/physrev.2000.80.2.853

Regulation of Contraction in Striated Muscle

https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/0092-8674(92)90167-B.pdf

The SH2 and SH3 domain-containing protein GRB2 links receptor tyrosine kinases to ras signaling

http://www.uco.es/zootecniaygestion/img/pictorex/10_10_27_ATT00013.pdf

Mechanisms of water-holding capacity of meat: The role of postmortem biochemical and structural changes.

Electrophoretic analyses of protein components of striated muscle myofibril purified from various vertebrate and invertebrate species revealed that proteins much larger than myosin heavy chain are present in significant amounts. To define possible roles of these heretofore unidentified proteins, we purified a combination of two uncommonly large proteins, designated as titin, from chicken breast myofibrils. Chemical and immunological studies indicated that titin is distinct from myosin, actin, and filamin. Specific titin anti body crossreacts with similar protein in both skeletal and cardiac myofibrils of many vertebrate and invertebrate species. Immunofluorescent staining of glycerinated chicken breast myofibrils indicated that titin is present in M lines, Z lines, the junctions of A and I bands, and perhaps throughout the entire A bands. Similar staining studies of myofibrils from other species suggest that titinlike proteins may be organized in all myofibrils according to a common architectural plan. We conclude that titin is a structurally conserved myofibrillar component of vertebrate and invertebrate striated muscles.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/76/8/3698.full.pdf

Titin: major myofibrillar components of striated muscle

Cell refractive index is a key biophysical parameter, which has been extensively studied. It is correlated with other cell biophysical properties including mechanical, electrical and optical properties, and not only represents the intracellular mass and concentration of a cell, but also provides important insight for various biological models. Measurement techniques developed earlier only measure the effective refractive index of a cell or a cell suspension, providing only limited information on cell refractive index and hence hindering its in-depth analysis and correlation. Recently, the emergence of microfluidic, photonic and imaging technologies has enabled the manipulation of a single cell and the 3D refractive index of a single cell down to sub-micron resolution, providing powerful tools to study cells based on refractive index. In this review, we provide an overview of cell refractive index models and measurement techniques including microfluidic chip-based techniques for the last 50 years, present the applications and significance of cell refractive index in cell biology, hematology, and pathology, and discuss future research trends in the field, including 3D imaging methods, integration with microfluidics and potential applications in new and breakthrough research areas.

Cell refractive index for cell biology and disease diagnosis: past, present and future

An Approach to Nearest Neighbor Analysis of Membrane Proteins APPLICATION TO THE HUMAN ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANE OF A METHOD EMPLOYING CLEAVABLE CROSS-LINKAGES

To explore the role of titin filaments in muscle elasticity, we measured the resting tension-sarcomere length curves of six rabbit skeletal muscles that express three size classes of titin isoform. The stress-strain curves of the split fibers of these muscles displayed a similar multiphasic shape, with an exponential increase in tension at low sarcomere strain followed by a leveling of tension and a decrease in stiffness at and beyond an elastic limit (yield point) at higher sarcomere strain. Significantly, positive correlations exist between the size of the expressed titin isoform, the sarcomere length at the onset of exponential resting tension, and the yield point of each muscle. Immunoelectron microscopic studies of an epitope in the extensible segment of titin revealed a transition in the elastic behavior of the titin filaments near the yield point sarcomere length of these muscles, providing direct evidence of titin's involvement in the genesis of resting tension. Our data led to the formulation of a segmental extension model of resting tension that recognizes the interplay of three major factors in shaping the stress-strain curves: the net contour length of an extensible segment of titin filaments (between the Z line and the ends of the thick filaments), the intrinsic molecular elasticity of titin, and the strength of titin thick filament anchorage. Our data further suggest that skeletal muscle cells may control and modulate stiffness and elastic limit coordinately by selective expression of specific titin isoforms.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/88/16/7101.full.pdf

Regulation of skeletal muscle stiffness and elasticity by titin isoforms: a test of the segmental extension model of resting tension.

A new high-molecular-weight protein, named filamin, was isolated from chicken gizzard. In chicken gizzard, filamin is present in an amount approximately 30-40% of that of myosin. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of highly purified filamin revealed a single polypeptide of about 250,000 daltons. Rabbit antibody directed against purified chicken gizzard filamin did not crossreact with myosin purified from the same source. By the use of microcomplement fixation and indirect immunofluorescent staining with antibodies to chicken gizzard filamin, an antigenically similar or identical protein was found to be widely distributed both in other organs of the chicken and in cultured cells of other species, but not in chicken skeletal muscle. In cultured cells, filamin was found largely to be arranged as a filamentous array very similar to that found for myosin. These data imply that filamin is a widely occurring and chemically conserved component of filaments is smooth muscle and non-muscle cells.

Kuan Wang

Papers

Titin: major myofibrillar components of striated muscle

Cell refractive index for cell biology and disease diagnosis: past, present and future

An Approach to Nearest Neighbor Analysis of Membrane Proteins APPLICATION TO THE HUMAN ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANE OF A METHOD EMPLOYING CLEAVABLE CROSS-LINKAGES

Regulation of skeletal muscle stiffness and elasticity by titin isoforms: a test of the segmental extension model of resting tension.

Filamin, a new high-molecular-weight protein found in smooth muscle and non-muscle cells.