Muscle Contraction and Cell Motility: Molecular and Cellular Aspects

ISBN-13: 9783642769290 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 264 str.

A. M. Gordon; T. J. Itoh; R. Kamiya

Opis

This volume intends to provide a comprehensive overview on the mecha nisms of muscle contraction and non-muscle cell motility at the molecu lar and cellular level, not only for investigators in these fields but also for general readers interested in these topics. A most attractive feature of various living organisms in the animal and plant kingdoms is their ability to move. In spite of a great diversity in the structure and function of various motile systems, it has frequently been assumed since the nineteenth century that all kinds of "motility" are essentially the same. Based on this assumption, some investigators in the nineteenth century thought that the mechanisms of motility could better be studied on primitive non-muscle motile systems such as amoeboid movement, rath er than on highly specialized muscle cells. Contrary to their expectation, however, the basic mechanisms of motility have been revealed solely by investigations on vertebrate skeletal muscles, since a monumental discovery of Szent-Gyorgyi and his coworkers in the early 1940s that muscle contraction results from the interaction between two different contractile proteins, actin and myosin, coupled with ATP hydrolysis."

Spis treści

1 Regulatory Mechanism of Contraction in Skeletal Muscle.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Excitation-Contraction Coupling.- 3 Calcium Activation of Actomyosin Interaction.- References.- 2 Regulation of Contractility in Cardiac Muscle.- 1 Introduction.- 2 The Basic Contractile Process.- 3 Regulation of the Contraction.- References.- 3 Smooth Muscle Activation.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Calcium Transport.- 3 The Dependence of Smooth Muscle Tone on the Intracellular Concentration of Ca2+.- 4 Calcium Activation of Smooth Muscle Contractile Proteins.- References.- 4 The Structures of Striated and Smooth Muscles Related to Their Function.- 1 The Development of Organisation in Muscle Cells.- 2 Striated Muscle Sarcomeres.- 3 Lattice Specialisations in Striated Muscles.- 4 3-D Geometry of the Actin-Myosin Interaction in Striated Muscles.- 5 Structure and Function of Smooth Muscles.- 6 Molecular Movements Involved in Contraction.- References.- 5 Molecular Mechanism of Actin-Myosin Interaction in Muscle Contraction.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Basic Characteristics of Contracting Muscle.- 3 Muscle Mechanics and Theories of Contraction.- 4 Biochemical Aspects of Actin-Myosin Interaction.- 5 Conformational Changes of the Myosin Head During Muscle Contraction.- 6 In Vitro Assay Systems for Studying the Actin-Myosin Interaction.- References.- 6 Mechanisms of Cytoplastic Streaming and Amoeboid Movement.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Rotational Streaming in Characeae.- 3 Shuttle Streaming in the Plasmodium of Physarum, a True Slime Mold.- 4 Cytoplasmic Streaming in Other Plant Cells.- 5 Amoeboid Movement.- 6 Concluding Remarks.- References.- 7 Molecular Mechanism of Ciliary and Flagellar Movement.- 1 Introduction.- 2 The 9+2 Structure.- 3 Microtubule Sliding and Axonemal Beat.- 4 Dynein: Structure and Function.- 5 Dynein-Microtubule Motility in Vitro.- 6 Prospects for Future Studies.- References.- 8 Molecular Mechanisms of Mitosis and Cytokinesis.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Mitosis.- 3 Cytokinesis.- Addendum.- References to Addendum.- References.