Smooth muscle cells use an actin-myosin II-based contractile apparatus to produce force for a variety of physiological functions, including blood pressure regulation and gut peristalsis. The ...

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited form of heart disease, associated with over 1,000 mutations, many in β-cardiac myosin (MYH7). Molecular studies of myosin with different ...

Scientists have used the latest advances in microscopy to characterize how a motor protein helps cells crawl, according to a study published in the Journal of Cell Biology.

Some cells, such as immune cells, are highly mobile—they constantly remodel their shape, migrate toward a wound that needs to be closed or chase down bacteria in the bloodstream. This mobility is ...

Research has uncovered how motor protein myosin, which is responsible for contraction of skeletal muscles, functions also in non-muscle cells to build contractile structures at the inner face of the ...

Scientists have obtained the first high-resolution 3D image of nebulin, a giant actin-binding protein that is an essential component of skeletal muscle. This discovery has brought to light the chance ...

Cell generated force plays essential roles in a wide range of biological processes, such as cell motility, cytokinesis, and tissue morphogenesis. In a study published in Nature Communications, a ...

Actin filaments - protein structures critical to living movement from single cells to animals - have long been known to have polarity associated with their physical characteristics, with growing ...