Natalia A. Koubassova

The Stiffness of Skeletal Muscle in Isometric Contraction and Rigor: The Fraction of Myosin Heads Bound to Actin

Step changes in length (between -3 and +5 nm per half-sarcomere) were imposed on isolated muscle fibers at the plateau of an isometric tetanus (tension T0) and on the same fibers in rigor after permeabilization of the sarcolemma, to determine stiffness of the half-sarcomere in the two conditions. To identify the contribution of actin filaments to the total half-sarcomere compliance (C), measurements were made at sarcomere lengths between 2.00 and 2.15 microm, where the number of myosin cross-bridges in the region of overlap between the myosin filament and the actin filament remains constant, and only the length of the nonoverlapped region of the actin filament changes with sarcomere length. At 2.1 microm sarcomere length, C was 3.9 nm T0(-1) in active isometric contraction and 2.6 nm T0(-1) in rigor. The actin filament compliance, estimated from the slope of the relation between C and sarcomere length, was 2.3 nm microm(-1) T0(-1). Recent x-ray diffraction experiments suggest that the myosin filament compliance is 1.3 nm microm(-1) T0(-1). With these values for filament compliance, the difference in half-sarcomere compliance between isometric contraction and rigor indicates that the fraction of myosin cross-bridges attached to actin in isometric contraction is not larger than 0.43, assuming that cross-bridge elasticity is the same in isometric contraction and rigor.

Elastic bending and active tilting of myosin heads during muscle contraction

Muscle contraction is driven by a change in shape of the myosin head region that links the actin and myosin filaments,. Tilting of the light-chain domain of the head with respect to its actin-bound catalytic domain is thought to be coupled to the ATPase cycle. Here, using X-ray diffraction and mechanical data from isolated muscle fibres, we characterize an elastic bending of the heads that is independent of the presence of ATP. Together, the tilting and bending motions can explain force generation in isometric muscle, when filament sliding is prevented. The elastic strain in the head is 2.0–2.7 nm under these conditions, contributing 40–50% of the compliance of the muscle sarcomere. We present an atomic model for changes in head conformation that accurately reproduces the changes in the X-ray diffraction pattern seen when rapid length changes are applied to muscle fibres both in active contraction and in the absence of ATP. The model predictions are relatively independent of which parts of the head are assumed to bend or tilt, but depend critically on the measured values of filament sliding and elastic strain.

Temperature dependence of the force‐generating process in single fibres from frog skeletal muscle

Generation of force and shortening in striated muscle is due to the cyclic interactions of the globular portion (the head) of the myosin molecule, extending from the thick filament, with the actin filament. The work produced in each interaction is due to a conformational change (the working stroke) driven by the hydrolysis of ATP on the catalytic site of the myosin head. However, the precise mechanism and the size of the force and length step generated in one interaction are still under question. Here we reinvestigate the endothermic nature of the force‐generating process by precisely determining, in tetanised intact frog muscle fibres under sarcomere length control, the effect of temperature on both isometric force and force response to length changes. We show that raising the temperature: (1) increases the force and the strain of the myosin heads attached in the isometric contraction by the same amount (∼70 %, from 2 to 17 °C); (2) increases the rate of quick force recovery following small length steps (range between −3 and 2 nm (half‐sarcomere)−1) with a Q10 (between 2 and 12 °C) of 1.9 (releases) and 2.3 (stretches); (3) does not affect the maximum extent of filament sliding accounted for by the working stroke in the attached heads (10 nm (half‐sarcomere)−1). These results indicate that in isometric conditions the structural change leading to force generation in the attached myosin heads can be modulated by temperature at the expense of the structural change responsible for the working stroke that drives filament sliding. The energy stored in the elasticity of the attached myosin heads at the plateau of the isometric tetanus increases with temperature, but even at high temperature this energy is only a fraction of the mechanical energy released by attached heads during filament sliding.

Direct Modeling of X-Ray Diffraction Pattern from Contracting Skeletal Muscle

A direct modeling approach was used to quantitatively interpret the two-dimensional x-ray diffraction patterns obtained from contracting mammalian skeletal muscle. The dependence of the calculated layer line intensities on the number of myosin heads bound to the thin filaments, on the conformation of these heads and on their mode of attachment to actin, was studied systematically. Results of modeling are compared to experimental data collected from permeabilized fibers from rabbit skeletal muscle contracting at 5 degrees C and 30 degrees C and developing low and high isometric tension, respectively. The results of the modeling show that: i), the intensity of the first actin layer line is independent of the tilt of the light chain domains of myosin heads and can be used as a measure of the fraction of myosin heads stereospecifically attached to actin; ii), during isometric contraction at near physiological temperature, the fraction of these heads is approximately 40% and the light chain domains of the majority of them are more perpendicular to the filament axis than in rigor; and iii), at low temperature, when isometric tension is low, a majority of the attached myosin heads are bound to actin nonstereospecifically whereas at high temperature and tension they are bound stereospecifically.

The Fraction of Myosin Motors That Participate in Isometric Contraction of Rabbit Muscle Fibers at Near-Physiological Temperature

The duty ratio, or the part of the working cycle in which a myosin molecule is strongly attached to actin, determines motor processivity and is required to evaluate the force generated by each molecule. In muscle, it is equal to the fraction of myosin heads that are strongly, or stereospecifically, bound to the thin filaments. Estimates of this fraction during isometric contraction based on stiffness measurements or the intensities of the equatorial or meridional x-ray reflections vary significantly. Here, we determined this value using the intensity of the first actin layer line, A1, in the low-angle x-ray diffraction patterns of permeable fibers from rabbit skeletal muscle. We calibrated the A1 intensity by considering that the intensity in the relaxed and rigor states corresponds to 0% and 100% of myosin heads bound to actin, respectively. The fibers maximally activated with Ca(2+) at 4°C were heated to 31-34°C with a Joule temperature jump (T-jump). Rigor and relaxed-state measurements were obtained on the same fibers. The intensity of the inner part of A1 during isometric contraction compared with that in rigor corresponds to 41-43% stereospecifically bound myosin heads at near-physiological temperature, or an average force produced by a head of ~6.3 pN.

Stabilizing the Central Part of Tropomyosin Increases the Bending Stiffness of the Thin Filament

A two-beam optical trap was used to measure the bending stiffness of F-actin and reconstructed thin filaments. A dumbbell was formed by a filament segment attached to two beads that were held in the two optical traps. One trap was static and held a bead used as a force transducer, whereas an acoustooptical deflector moved the beam holding the second bead, causing stretch of the dumbbell. The distance between the beads was measured using image analysis of micrographs. An exact solution to the problem of bending of an elastic filament attached to two beads and subjected to a stretch was used for data analysis. Substitution of noncanonical residues in the central part of tropomyosin with canonical ones, G126R and D137L, and especially their combination, caused an increase in the bending stiffness of the thin filaments. The data confirm that the effect of these mutations on the regulation of actin-myosin interactions may be caused by an increase in tropomyosin stiffness.

Why Muscle is an Efficient Shock Absorber

Skeletal muscles power body movement by converting free energy of ATP hydrolysis into mechanical work. During the landing phase of running or jumping some activated skeletal muscles are subjected to stretch. Upon stretch they absorb body energy quickly and effectively thus protecting joints and bones from impact damage. This is achieved because during lengthening, skeletal muscle bears higher force and has higher instantaneous stiffness than during isometric contraction, and yet consumes very little ATP. We wish to understand how the actomyosin molecules change their structure and interaction to implement these physiologically useful mechanical and thermodynamical properties. We monitored changes in the low angle x-ray diffraction pattern of rabbit skeletal muscle fibers during ramp stretch compared to those during isometric contraction at physiological temperature using synchrotron radiation. The intensities of the off-meridional layer lines and fine interference structure of the meridional M3 myosin x-ray reflection were resolved. Mechanical and structural data show that upon stretch the fraction of actin-bound myosin heads is higher than during isometric contraction. On the other hand, the intensities of the actin layer lines are lower than during isometric contraction. Taken together, these results suggest that during stretch, a significant fraction of actin-bound heads is bound non-stereo-specifically, i.e. they are disordered azimuthally although stiff axially. As the strong or stereo-specific myosin binding to actin is necessary for actin activation of the myosin ATPase, this finding explains the low metabolic cost of energy absorption by muscle during the landing phase of locomotion.

Myosin Heads Contribute to the Maintenance of Filament Order in Relaxed Rabbit Muscle

Raising the temperature of rabbit skeletal muscle from ∼0°C to ∼20°C has been shown to enhance the helical organization of the myosin heads and to change the intensities of the 10 and 11 equatorial reflections. We show here by time-resolved x-ray diffraction combined with temperature jump that the movement of the heads to enhance the organized myosin helix occurs at the same fast rate as the change in the intensities of the equatorial reflections. However, model calculations indicate that the change in the equatorials cannot be explained simply in terms of the movement of myosin heads. Analysis of electron micrographs of transverse sections of relaxed muscle fibers cryofixed at ∼5°C and ∼35°C shows that in addition to the reorganization of the heads the thin and thick filaments are less constrained to their positions in the hexagonal filament lattice in the warm muscle than in the cold. Incorporating the changes in filament order in model calculations reconciles these with the observed changes in equatorial reflections. We suggest the thin filaments in the cold muscle are boxed into their positions by the thermal movement of the disordered myosin heads. In the warmer muscle, the packed-down heads leave the thin filaments more room to diffuse laterally.

X-ray interferometry of the axial movement of myosin heads during muscle force generation initiated by T-Jump

The interference fine structure of the M3 reflection in the low-angle X-ray diffraction patterns of muscle fibers is used for the measurements of axial movements of myosin heads with a precision of 0.1–0.2 nm. We have measured changes in the M3 interference profile during tension rise induced by a 5°C to 30°C temperature jump in thin bundles of contracting fibers from rabbit skeletal muscle. Interpreting the data with a point diffractor model gives an estimate for the axial movement of the myosin heads during force rise of less than 0.6 nm. Modifications of the point diffractor model are discussed. We show that our experimental data can be explained by a model where myosin heads bind actin in a number of structurally different states either stereoor non-stereo-specifically.

Functional role of the core gap in the middle part of tropomyosin

Tropomyosin (Tpm) is an α‐helical coiled‐coil actin‐binding protein playing an essential role in the regulation of muscle contraction. The middle part of the Tpm molecule has some specific features, such as the presence of noncanonical residues as well as a substantial gap at the interhelical interface, which are believed to destabilize a coiled‐coil and impart structural flexibility to this part of the molecule. To study how the gap affects structural and functional properties of α‐striated Tpm (the Tpm1.1 isoform that is expressed in cardiac and skeletal muscles) we replaced large conserved apolar core residues located at both sides of the gap with smaller ones by mutations M127A/I130A and M141A/Q144A. We found that in contrast with the stabilizing substitutions D137L and G126R studied earlier, these substitutions have no appreciable influence on thermal unfolding and domain structure of the Tpm molecule. They also do not affect actin‐binding properties of Tpm. However, they strongly increase sliding velocity of regulated actin filaments in an in vitro motility assay and cause an oversensitivity of the velocity to Ca2+ similar to the stabilizing substitutions D137L and G126R. Molecular dynamics shows that the substitutions studied here increase bending stiffness of the coiled‐coil structure of Tpm, like that of G126R/D137L, probably due to closure of the interhelical gap in the area of the substitutions. Our results clearly indicate that the conserved middle part of Tpm is important for the fine tuning of the Ca2+ regulation of actin–myosin interaction in muscle.