What Are Cross Bridges, and How Do They Relate to Sliding Filaments?
Figure 3One important refinement of the sliding filament theory involved the particular way in which myosin is able to pull upon actin to shorten the sarcomere. Scientists have demonstrated that the globular end of each myosin protein that is nearest actin, called the S1 region, has multiple hinged segments, which can bend and facilitate contraction (Hynes et al. 1987; Spudich 2001). The bending of the myosin S1 region helps explain the way that myosin moves or “walks” along actin. The slimmer and typically longer “tail” region of myosin (S2) also exhibits flexibility, and it rotates in concert with the S1 contraction (Figure 3A). The movements of myosin appear to be a kind of molecular dance. The myosin reaches forward, binds to actin, contracts, releases actin, and then reaches forward again to bind actin in a new cycle. This process is known as myosin-actin cycling. As the myosin S1 segment binds and releases actin, it forms what are called cross bridges, which extend from the thick
