肌浆球蛋白家族的运动蛋白在真核细胞中有很多重要功能，而且是基于肌动蛋白的运动的关键。我们对肌浆球蛋白作用机制的认识一直受阻于缺乏使我们能够对生物分子的结构和动态同时进行观察的技术，但现在Kodera等人利用高速原子力显微镜(HS-AFM) 以前所未有的时间分辨率对沿肌动蛋白细丝运动的肌浆球蛋白-V直接进行了观察。他们获得了高分辨率的影片，这些影片提供了支持有关肌浆球蛋白运动的“摆动杠杆臂”模型的视觉证据。
利用HS-AFM进行高分辨率成像成为可能，将使该方法能广泛适用于结构生物学和单分子生物学领域。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐英文摘要：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature09450
Video imaging of walking myosin V by high-speed atomic force microscopy
Noriyuki Kodera,Daisuke Yamamoto,Ryoki Ishikawa& Toshio
The dynamic behaviour of myosin V molecules translocating along actin filaments has been mainly studied by optical microscopy. The processive hand-over-hand movement coupled with hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate was thereby demonstrated. However, the protein molecules themselves are invisible in the observations and have therefore been visualized by electron microscopy in the stationary states. The concomitant assessment of structure and dynamics has been unfeasible, a situation prevailing throughout biological research. Here we directly visualize myosin V molecules walking along actin tracks, using high-speed atomic force microscopy. The high-resolution movies not only provide corroborative ‘visual evidence’ for previously speculated or demonstrated molecular behaviours, including lever-arm swing, but also reveal more detailed behaviours of the molecules, leading to a comprehensive understanding of the motor mechanism. Our direct and dynamic high-resolution visualization is a powerful new approach to studying the structure and dynamics of biomolecules in action.
