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Molecular dynamics of cyclically contracting insect flight muscle in vivo

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Dickinson

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Gerrie Farman

    (Illinois Institute of Technology
    University of Illinois at Chicago)

  • Mark Frye

    (California Institute of Technology
    University of California, Los Angeles)

  • Tanya Bekyarova

    (Illinois Institute of Technology)

  • David Gore

    (Illinois Institute of Technology)

  • David Maughan

    (University of Vermont)

  • Thomas Irving

    (Illinois Institute of Technology)

Abstract

In-flight movies Insects fly by flapping their wings back and forth using tiny muscles that are the most powerful motors in the animal kingdom. These muscles exhibit an accentuated form of stretch-dependent activation, a property found to some extent in nearly all muscles. By aiming a narrow, high intensity X-ray beam at the flight muscles of tethered flying Drosophila, Dickinson et al. have measured structural changes directly in an active flight muscle. The resulting data were combined with virtual-reality flight simulation to produce X-ray movies showing the cyclic motion of the molecules that cause the muscles to contract and relax 200 times a second. These results have implications for our understanding of how all muscles, including hearts, function.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Dickinson & Gerrie Farman & Mark Frye & Tanya Bekyarova & David Gore & David Maughan & Thomas Irving, 2005. "Molecular dynamics of cyclically contracting insect flight muscle in vivo," Nature, Nature, vol. 433(7023), pages 330-334, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:433:y:2005:i:7023:d:10.1038_nature03230
    DOI: 10.1038/nature03230
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