Three-dimensional reconstruction of rigor insect flight muscle from tilted thin sections

Rigor cross-bridges show two conformations paired within each 38.7-nm axial repeat. The two forms may express two stages of the cross-bridge cycle during contraction. Differing numbers of myosin heads per cross-bridge and associated helical changes in the thin filament distinguish the two forms and suggest that both myosin heads usually bind to a single thin filament.     

Cross-bridge interaction with oppositely polarized actin filaments in double-overlap zones of insect flight muscle

An unresolved problem in understanding muscular contraction is why the internal resistance to sarcomere shortening increases progressively during contraction. We have addressed this problem here by investigating the movement of detached acting filaments in the sarcomeres of insect flight muscle. The final position of the detached actin filaments shows that they were able to slide freely into regions where they have the wrong polarity to interact actively with myosin (double-overlap zones) but where they prevent the exertion of force by cross-bridges between myosin and the correctly polarized acting filaments. These observations indicate that the isometric tension at all sarcomere lengths is directly proportional to the number of cross-bridges in the region of single-overlap of correctly polarized actin and myosin filaments. The decrease in tension as sarcomeres shorten is thus the result of the decrease in the number of effective cross-bridges as actin filaments slide into regions where they are of the wrong polarity to form cross-bridges, and where they inhibit the existing cross-bridges.     

昆翅在飞行中的动态形变

通过理论模化途径研究昆翅在飞行中的动态形变机制.设计翅气动力试验平台,验证翅准静态形变影响气动力的"柔性楔形效应"理论解释.探讨昆翅的变刚度特性表明,弦向刚度分布规律符合二项式函数时具有优越性和现实性,进而指出昆姻结构的变刚度特性是产生高升力的基本条件.建立了柔性翅的简化力学模型,通过坐标变换法求解在气动力和惯性力共同...     

Actomyosin structure in contracting muscle detected by rapid freezing

It is now widely accepted that the ATP-induced active sliding of adjacent thin and thick filaments mediated by myosin heads (cross-bridges) is responsible for muscle contraction. Despite intensive studies, the behaviour of the myosin heads during muscle contraction is still unclear. Recent progress in the rapid freezing electron microscope technique has greatly improved the temporal resolution of the images that can be obtained. Here, we report a new type of actomyosin structure captured by rapid freezing. We have analysed images from thin sections of freeze-substituted rabbit skeletal muscle rapidly frozen during isometric contraction. For comparison, we also studied relaxed and rigor muscles. Our results show that, during isometric contraction, most myosin heads are regularly arrayed along the helix of the actin filaments and that this actomyosin structure appears to be distinct from that observed in rigor muscle.     

Rapid regeneration of the actin-myosin power stroke in contracting muscle.

At the molecular level, muscle contraction is the result of cyclic interaction between myosin crossbridges, which extend from the thick filament, and the thin filament, which consists mainly of actin. The energy for work done by a single crossbridge during a cycle of attachment, generation of force, shortening and detachment is believed to be coupled to the hydrolysis of one molecule of ATP. The distance the actin filament slides relative to the myosin filament in one crossbridge cycle has been estimated as 12 nm by step-length perturbation studies on single fibres from frog muscle. The 'mechanical' power stroke of the attached crossbridge can therefore be defined as 12-nm shortening with a force profile like that shown by the quick recovery of force following a length perturbation. According to this definition, power strokes cannot be repeated faster than the overall ATPase rate. Here, however, we show that the power stroke can be regenerated much faster than expected from the ATPase rate. This contradiction can be resolved if, in the shortening muscle, the free energy of ATP hydrolysis is used in several actin-myosin interactions consisting of elementary power strokes each of 5-10 nm.     

Intensification of the 5.9-nm actin layer line in contracting muscle

According to the cross-bridge model of muscle contraction, an interaction of myosin heads with interdigitating actin filaments produces tension. Although X-ray equatorial diffraction patterns of active (contracting) muscle show that the heads are in the vicinity of the actin filaments, structural proof of actual attachment of heads to actin during contraction has been elusive. We show here that during contraction of frog skeletal muscle, the 5.9-nm layer line arising from the genetic helix of actin is intensified by as much as 56% of the change which occurs when muscle enters rigor, using a two-dimensional X-ray detector. This provides strong structural evidence that myosin heads do in fact attach during contraction.     

Orientation of spin labels attached to cross-bridges in contracting muscle fibres

Electron micrographs showing different cross-bridge orientations in different states of muscle fibres, and X-ray diffraction patterns indicating axial cross-bridge disorder in contracting muscle first suggested that force generation in the contracting muscle involved a change in orientation of the myosin heads that form cross-bridges between thick and thin filaments. This has been supported by subsequent work; the myosin molecule has the required flexibility for changes in orientation. The orientation of muscle tryptophans and of probes attached to the myosin heads of permeable muscle fibres depends on the state of the muscle. Recently, fluorescence polarization fluctuations and time-resolved X-ray diffraction patterns have suggested that cross-bridges of a contracting muscle can rotate. We have used electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to monitor the orientation of spin labels attached specifically to a reactive sulphydryl on the myosin heads in glycerinated rabbit psoas skeletal muscle. Previously, it has been shown that the paramagnetic probes are highly ordered in rigor muscle, with a nearly random angular distribution in relaxed muscle. We show here that during the generation of isometric tension, approximately 80% of the probes display a random angular distribution as in relaxed muscle while the remaining 20% are highly oriented at the same angle as found in rigor muscle. These findings indicate that a domain of the myosin head does not change orientation during the power stroke of the contractile interaction.     

Molecular dynamics simulations in biology

Molecular dynamics--the science of simulating the motions of a system of particles--applied to biological macromolecules gives the fluctuations in the relative positions of the atoms in a protein or in DNA as a function of time. Knowledge of these motions provides insights into biological phenomena such as the role of flexibility in ligand binding and the rapid solvation of the electron transfer state in photosynthesis. Molecular dynamics is also being used to determine protein structures from NMR, to refine protein X-ray crystal structures faster from poorer starting models, and to calculate the free energy changes resulting from mutations in proteins.     

Molecular evidence regarding the origin of echolocation and flight in bats

Bats (order Chiroptera) are one of the few orders of mammals that echolocate and the only group with the capacity for powered flight. The order is subdivided into Microchiroptera and Megachiroptera, with an array of characteristics defining each group, including complex laryngeal echolocation systems in microbats and enhanced visual acuity in megabats. The respective monophylies of the two suborders have been tacitly assumed, although microbat monophyly is uncorroborated by molecular data. Here we present a phylogenetic analysis of bat relationships using DNA sequence data from four nuclear genes and three mitochondrial genes (total of 8,230 base pairs), indicating that microbat families in the superfamily Rhinolophoidea are more closely related to megabats than they are to other microbats. This implies that echolocation systems either evolved independently in rhinolophoids and other microbats or were lost in the evolution of megabats. Our data also reject flying lemur (order Dermoptera) as the bat sister group, indicating that presumed shared derived characters for flying lemurs and bats are convergent features that evolved in association with gliding and flight, respectively.     

The continuity of thick filaments between sarcomeres in honey bee flight muscle

One of the most frequently discussed problems of insect flight muscle morphology is the structure of the thick filaments, especially at the Z line. Many attempts have been to solve these problems but no unequivocal answers have been given so far. It is well known that physiological specialisation is accompanied by certain anatomical features in the myofibrillar level; the myofibrils have very short I bands in the resting state and the muscle acts under nearly isometric conditions. In this paper, a fresh approach is used to demonstrate the fine structure at the Z line in honey bee flight muscle.     

单晶硅纳米级压痕过程分子动力学仿真

对内部无缺陷的单晶硅纳米级压痕过程进行了分子动力学仿真,从原子空间角度分析了单晶硅纳米级压痕过程的瞬间原子位置、作用力和势能等变化,解释了压痕过程.研究表明:磨粒逐渐向单晶硅片的逼进和压入,使得磨粒下方的硅晶格在磨粒的作用下发生了剪切挤压变形,磨粒作用产生的能量以晶格应变能的形式贮存在单晶硅的晶格中(即硅原子间势能),因此硅原子间势能随着力的增加而不断增加,当超过一定值且不足以形成位错时,硅的原子键就会断裂,形成非晶层,堆积在金刚石磨粒的下方.当磨粒逐渐离开单晶硅片时,非晶层原子进行重构,释放部分能量,从而达到新的平衡状态.     

水溶液中石墨烯剥离的分子动力学模拟

通过分子动力学模拟方法研究柔性石墨烯在水溶液中剥离的热力学机制。为了表征石墨烯与水溶剂之间的相互作用,研究了石墨烯周围水溶剂的结构性质;通过施加外力的方法剥离石墨模型中最外层的石墨烯,计算剥离过程中体系自由能的变化,并对剥离过程中微观结构变化以及石墨烯周围水溶剂结构性质进行分析。结果表明:石墨烯与水之间的相互作用较小;剥离石墨烯需要克服一定的能垒;石墨烯之间的相互作用决定了自由能能垒的大小,溶剂诱导的贡献对剥离起到促进作用;受限区域内的水溶剂分子对剥离起到重要的作用。     

纳米通道内气泡核化的分子动力学模拟

为了探讨壁面浸润性与流体初始密度对气泡核化位置以及纳米气泡在凹槽内生长核化影响规律,本文采用分子动力学方法研究纳米结构微通道内液体氩的沸腾核化过程。通过改变固液势能的相互作用参数来调整壁面浸润性。结果表明：纳米凹槽壁面浸润性对气泡核化过程具有重要的影响。一方面,当固体表面的浸润性较弱时,凹槽内流体受排斥力的作用,原子排布比较稀疏,原子碰撞频率增大,局部活化能聚集,从而导致气泡在纳米凹槽内形成。另一方面,当壁面浸润性较强时,气泡会在微通道中央形成。此外,区别于均质浸润性纳米凹槽内气泡曲率半径及接触角保持不变的核化动力学行为,其在异质亲疏水匹配的纳米结构微通道内产生了显著的差异。当壁面浸润性维持不变,核化气泡的曲率半径随着流体初始密度增大而增大,与之相反,稳态接触角却随之减小。