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Single-Molecule Biophysical Techniques to Study Actomyosin Force Transduction

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Myosins

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1239))

Abstract

Inside the cellular environment, molecular motors can work in concert to conduct a variety of important physiological functions and processes that are vital for the survival of a cell. However, in order to decipher the mechanism of how these molecular motors work, single-molecule microscopy techniques have been popular methods to understand the molecular basis of the emerging ensemble behavior of these motor proteins.

In this chapter, we discuss various single-molecule biophysical imaging techniques that have been used to expose the mechanics and kinetics of myosins. The chapter should be taken as a general overview and introductory guide to the many existing techniques; however, since other chapters will discuss some of these techniques more thoroughly, the readership should refer to those chapters for further details and discussions. In particular, we will focus on scattering-based single-molecule microscopy methods, some of which have become more popular in the recent years and around which the work in our laboratories has been centered.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. James R. Sellers (NHLBI, NIH) for critical reading of the chapter, as well as for helpful discussions and ideas. Y.T. was supported by the intramural funds from the NHLBI, NIH (Grant HL 004229). N.H. was supported by a DFG (German Research Foundation) research fellowship (HU 2462/1-1) and later by a DFG return grant (HU2462/3-1). A.F. was supported by a ERC starting investigator grant (nanoscope, 337757).

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  1. Laboratory of Molecular Physiology, Center for Cell and Developmental Biology, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA

    Yasuharu Takagi

  2. Department of Cellular Physiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Nikolas Hundt

  3. Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory (PTCL), Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Adam Fineberg

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  1. Yasuharu Takagi
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Correspondence to Yasuharu Takagi .

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  1. Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Lynne M. Coluccio

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Takagi, Y., Hundt, N., Fineberg, A. (2020). Single-Molecule Biophysical Techniques to Study Actomyosin Force Transduction. In: Coluccio, L. (eds) Myosins. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1239. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38062-5_6

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