Molecular Mechanisms in Muscular Contraction

Muscle cells provide a unique probe into the motile properties of all living systems. A full understanding of the molecular mechanisms within muscle cells is therefore important to many areas of biological research. It is now nearly 40 years since the postulation of the sliding filament model of muscle contraction yet only recently has sufficient evidence been produced to support a convincing model. This book marks a turning point in muscle research. It reviews the evidence that myosin cross-bridges do indeed swing on actin filaments during contraction, and starts to tackle the problems this raises: what are the geometrics of the attached states of cross-bridges on actin? How many states are there? What is the sequence of molecular events during muscle activation? And is the primary source of muscular force cross-bridge swinging or Helix-coil transition?