REVIEW: Actomyosin Systems of Biological Motility

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In memory of my teacher Boris F. Poglazov

D. I. Levitsky^1,2

¹Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119992, Russia

²Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky pr. 33, Moscow 119071, Russia; fax: (7-095) 954-2732; E-mail: levitsky@inbi.ras.ru

Received July 9, 2004

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Evolution of notions on the molecular mechanism of muscle contraction and other events based on the actin-myosin interaction, from the middle of XX century to the present time, is briefly reviewed, including recent views on the functioning of the myosin head as a “molecular motor”. The results of structural and functional studies on the myosin head performed by the author and his colleagues using differential scanning calorimetry are also reviewed.

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KEY WORDS: biological motility, myosin, actin, actomyosin, differential scanning calorimetry

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