Muhammad H. Zaman1, Mohammad R. Kaazempur-Mofrad2
Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.1, No.4, pp. 291-302, 2004, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2004.001.291
Abstract α-actinin, an actin binding protein, plays a key role in cell migration, cross-links actin filaments in the Z-disk, and is a major component of contractile muscle apparatus. The flexibility of the molecule is critical to its function. The flexibility of various regions of the molecule, including the linker connecting central subunits is studied using constant force steered molecular dynamics simulations. The linker, whose structure has been a subject of debate, is predicted to be semi-flexible. The flexibility of the linker is compared to all possible segments of equal length throughout the molecule. The stretching profile More >