RESUMO
BACKGROUND: In the past two decades, methods have been developed to measure the mechanical properties of single biomolecules. One of these methods, Magnetic tweezers, is amenable to aquisition of data on many single molecules simultaneously, but to take full advantage of this "multiplexing" ability, it is necessary to simultaneously incorprorate many capabilities that ahve been only demonstrated separately. METHODS: Our custom built magnetic tweezer combines high multiplexing, precision bead tracking, and bi-directional force control into a flexible and stable platform for examining single molecule behavior. This was accomplished using electromagnets, which provide high temporal control of force while achieving force levels similar to permanent magnets via large paramagnetic beads. RESULTS: Here we describe the instrument and its ability to apply 2-260 pN of force on up to 120 beads simultaneously, with a maximum spatial precision of 12 nm using a variety of bead sizes and experimental techniques. We also demonstrate a novel method for increasing the precision of force estimations on heterogeneous paramagnetic beads using a combination of density separation and bi-directional force correlation which reduces the coefficient of variation of force from 27% to 6%. We then use the instrument to examine the force dependence of uncoiling and recoiling velocity of type 1 fimbriae from Eschericia coli (E. coli) bacteria, and see similar results to previous studies. CONCLUSION: This platform provides a simple, effective, and flexible method for efficiently gathering single molecule force spectroscopy measurements.
RESUMO
Mammalian cardiac and skeletal muscle express unique isoforms of the thin filament regulatory proteins, troponin (Tn) and tropomyosin (Tm), and the significance of these different isoforms in thin filament regulation has not been clearly identified. Both in vitro and skinned cellular studies investigating the mechanism of thin filament regulation in striated muscle have often used heterogeneous mixtures of Tn, Tm and myosin isoforms, and variability in reported results might be explained by different combinations of these proteins. Here we used in vitro motility and force (microneedle) assays to investigate the influence of cardiac versus skeletal Tn and Tm isoforms on actin-heavy meromyosin (HMM) mechanics. When interacting with skeletal HMM, thin filaments reconstituted with cardiac Tn/Tm or skeletal Tn/Tm exhibited similar speed-calcium relationships and significantly increased maximum speed and force per filament length (F/l) at pCa 5 (versus unregulated actin filaments). However, augmentation of F/l was greater with skeletal regulatory proteins. Reconstitution of thin filaments with the heterogeneous combination of skeletal Tn and cardiac Tm decreased sliding speeds at all [Ca2+] relative to thin filaments with skeletal Tn/Tm. Finally, for filaments reconstituted with any heterogeneous mix of Tn and Tm isoforms, force was not potentiated over that of unregulated actin filaments. Combined the results suggest (1) that cardiac regulatory proteins limit the allosteric enhancement of force, and (2) that Tn and Tm isoform homogeneity is important when studying Ca2+ regulation of crossbridge binding and kinetics as well as mechanistic differences between cardiac and skeletal muscle.
Assuntos
Actinas/química , Cálcio/química , Proteínas Motores Moleculares/química , Músculo Esquelético/química , Miocárdio/química , Tropomiosina/química , Troponina/química , Animais , Masculino , Ratos , Estresse MecânicoRESUMO
At saturating calcium and nucleotide concentrations, troponin (Tn) and tropomyosin (Tm) enhance the in vitro motility speed of individual actin filaments, suggesting the roles of these thin filament proteins in regulating contraction may include a modulation of crossbridge kinetics. Using a homogeneous complement of fast rabbit skeletal proteins, we examined if Tn and Tm modify specific transitions in the crossbridge cycle by varying skeletal muscle crossbridge kinetics and measuring actin filament sliding speed and steady-state force using the in vitro motility and microneedle assays, respectively. Skeletal regulatory proteins increased the force and sliding speed of actin filaments sliding on skeletal HMM. Faster crossbridge cycling with increased temperature or with substitution of dATP as the contractile substrate resulted in both increased sliding speed and force of unregulated filaments, while the addition of regulatory proteins diminished or eliminated this increase. In contrast, regulatory proteins did not influence filament mechanics when crossbridge cycling was slowed with lowered ATP concentration. The results are most simply explained if addition of the Tn and Tm complex to actin enhances both the transition rate of the force-generating actomyosin isomerization (or the preceding transition) and the apparent crossbridge detachment rate, but that the relative influence of Tn and Tm is dependent on the external load.