C ELEGANS THICK FILAMENT ASSEMBLIES

我们已经提出了一个结构的三维模型 线虫粗丝的脊骨 基于电子显微镜和图像分析。在这 模型中，核心是一个由7个副肌球蛋白亚丝组成的小管， 通过交联化蛋白质。厚实的纤维刚性是必要的 肌肉收缩滑动细丝理论中的元素。我们有 测量了这些结构在电子中所显示的刚性 显微照片，通过持续长度的随机测量。这个 传统的脊椎动物粗丝模型仅基于 肌球蛋白尾巴以绳状方式缠绕在一起不能解释他们的 卓越的抗弯刚性。耦合小管原理可以 解释在粗丝和其他线条中观察到的刚性 构筑物

We have proposed a three-dimensional model for the structure of the backbones of thick filaments of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, based on electron microscopy and image analysis. In this model, the core is a tubule of seven paramyosin subfilaments, coupled by crosslinking proteins. Thick filament rigidity is a necessary element in the sliding-filament theory of muscle contraction. We have measured the rigidity displayed by these structures in electron micrographs, by the stochastic measure of persistence length. The conventional model of vertebrate thick filaments based solely upon the intertwining of myosin tails in a ropelike manner cannot explain their exceptional flexural rigidity. The coupled tubule principle may explain the rigidity observed in thick filaments and other linear structures