Spudich recounts his first foray into muscle research as a postdoc in Hugh Huxley’s lab. He wanted to understand how Ca2+ regulated muscle contraction via the troponin/tropomyosin complex. Using electron micrographs and diffraction analysis to investigate where tropomyosin filaments lie along actin filaments, Spudich showed that tropomyosin filaments block the myosin-binding sites on actin. When muscle is stimulated, Ca2+ is released from intracellular stores and binds to troponin causing tropomyosin to move. This allows myosin to bind to actin and the muscle to contract. These finding led Spudich and Huxley to propose a steric blocking mechanism for regulation of muscle contraction. Recent technological improvements have confirmed this model and filled in important details.
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A Brief History of Muscle Biology
James Spudich begins his talk with an early history of muscle biology and moves forward to our current understanding of the molecular basis of muscle contraction and disease. (Talk recorded in May 2017)
- Part 1: A Brief History of Muscle Biology 1864-1969Audience:
- Student
- Researcher
- Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 31:05 - Part 2: A Brief History of Muscle Biology 1969-2017Audience:
- Student
- Researcher
- Educators of H. School / Intro Undergrad
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 31:32 - Part 3: Ca 2+ Regulation of Muscle ContractionAudience:
- Researcher
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 32:23 - Part 4: Myosin Mutations and Hypertrophic CardiomyopathyAudience:
- Researcher
- Educators of Adv. Undergrad / Grad
Duration: 37:56