a fibrillar protein, a basic component of contractile muscle fibers (myofibrils); it constitutes 40–60 percent of the total muscle protein content. Myosin combines with another myofibrillar protein, actin, to form actomyosin, a primary structural element in the contractile muscular system. Another important property of myosin is its ability to split adenosine triphosphate (ATP) (V. A. Engel’gardt and M. N. Liubimova, 1939). Owing to the ATP-ase activity of myosin, the chemical energy of the high-energy ATP bonds is transformed into the mechanical energy necessary for muscular contraction. Myosin has a molecular weight of approximately 500,000. When acted upon by proteolytic enzymes, myosin decomposes into heavy meromyosin and light meromyosin (approximate molecular weights, 350,000 and 150,000, respectively).
Electron photomicrographs of myosin molecules reveal a bacilliform structure (1,600 × 25 angstroms), with two globular formations at one end. It is conjectured that the two polypeptide chains which make up the myosin molecule are twisted into a spiral. Proteins that are similar to myosin have been discovered in flagella, cilia, and other motile structures in many species of protozoa and bacteria, as well as in the spermatozoids of animals and certain plants.
V. O. SHPIKITER