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The elasticity of single kettin molecules using a two-bead laser-tweezers assay
Mark C Leake1, David Wilson, Belinda Bullard
1The Randall Centre for Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Function, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK. m.leake1@physics.oc.ac.uk
Abstract:
Kettin is a high molecular mass protein of insect muscle associated with thin filaments and alpha-actinin in the Z-disc. It is thought to form a link between thin and thick filaments towards its C-terminus, contributing significantly to passive sarcomere stiffness. Here the elastic properties were characterised by mechanical stretches on an antibody-delimited region of the single molecule using two independent optical traps capable of exerting forces up to 150 pN. Step-like events were observed in the force-extension relationships consistent with the unfolding of Ig domains at moderate force and refolding of these domains at significantly higher forces than have been observed for related modular proteins.