Tuning of shortening speed in coleoid cephalopod muscle: no evidence for tissue-specific muscle myosin heavy chain isoforms.

ABSTRACT: The contractile protein myosin II is ubiquitous in muscle. It is widely accepted that animals express tissue-specific myosin isoforms that differ in amino acid sequence and ATPase activity in order to tune muscle contractile velocities. Recent studies, however, suggested that the squid Doryteuthis pealeii might be an exception; members of this species do not express muscle-specific myosin isoforms, but instead alter sarcomeric ultrastructure to adjust contractile velocities. We investigated whether this alternative mechanism of tuning muscle contractile velocity is found in other coleoid cephalopods. We analyzed myosin heavy chain transcript sequences and expression profiles from muscular tissues of a cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis, and an octopus, Octopus bimaculoides,

SUBMITTER: Shaffer JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4795958 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature