TY - JOUR
T1 - Axial rotation of sliding actin filaments revealed by single-fluorophore imaging
AU - Sase, Ichiro
AU - Miyata, Hidetake
AU - Ishiwata, Shin'ichi
AU - Kinosita, Kazuhiko
PY - 1997/5/27
Y1 - 1997/5/27
N2 - In the actomyosin motor, myosin slides along an actin filament that has a helical structure with a pitch of ≃72 nm. Whether myosin precisely follows this helical track is an unanswered question bearing directly on the motor mechanism. Here, axial rotation of actin filaments sliding over myosin molecules fixed on a glass surface was visualized through fluorescence polarization imaging of individual tetramethylrhodamine fluorophores sparsely bound to the filaments. The filaments underwent one revolution per sliding distance of ≃1 μm, which is much greater than the 72 nm pitch. Thus, myosin does not 'walk' on the helical array of actin protomers; rather it 'runs,' skipping many protomers. Possible mechanisms involving sequential interaction of myosin with successive actin protomers are ruled out at least for the preparation described here in which the actin filaments ran rather slowly compared with other in vitro systems. The result also indicates that each 'kick' of myosin is primarily along the axis of the actin filament. The successful, real-time observation of the changes in the orientation of a single fluorophore opens the possibility of detecting a conformational change(s) of a single protein molecule at the moment it functions.
AB - In the actomyosin motor, myosin slides along an actin filament that has a helical structure with a pitch of ≃72 nm. Whether myosin precisely follows this helical track is an unanswered question bearing directly on the motor mechanism. Here, axial rotation of actin filaments sliding over myosin molecules fixed on a glass surface was visualized through fluorescence polarization imaging of individual tetramethylrhodamine fluorophores sparsely bound to the filaments. The filaments underwent one revolution per sliding distance of ≃1 μm, which is much greater than the 72 nm pitch. Thus, myosin does not 'walk' on the helical array of actin protomers; rather it 'runs,' skipping many protomers. Possible mechanisms involving sequential interaction of myosin with successive actin protomers are ruled out at least for the preparation described here in which the actin filaments ran rather slowly compared with other in vitro systems. The result also indicates that each 'kick' of myosin is primarily along the axis of the actin filament. The successful, real-time observation of the changes in the orientation of a single fluorophore opens the possibility of detecting a conformational change(s) of a single protein molecule at the moment it functions.
KW - Epifluorescence microscopy
KW - Fluorescence polarization
KW - Force generation
KW - In vitro motility
KW - Molecular motor
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.94.11.5646
DO - 10.1073/pnas.94.11.5646
M3 - Article
C2 - 9159126
AN - SCOPUS:0030902490
VL - 94
SP - 5646
EP - 5650
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
SN - 0027-8424
IS - 11
ER -