Question

Tropomyosin is a type of what, that winds around the chains of the actin filament and covers the myosin-binding sites to prevent actin from binding to myosin?

Answer 1

protein

Tropomyosin is a protein that winds around the chains of the actin filament and covers the myosin-binding sites to prevent actin from binding to myosin. Tropomyosin binds to troponin to form a troponin-tropomyosin complex. The troponintropomyosin complex prevents the myosin heads from binding to the active sites on the actin microfilaments. Troponin also has a binding site for Ca++ ions. To initiate muscle contraction, tropomyosin has to expose the myosin-binding site on an actin filament to allow cross-bridge formation between the actin and myosin microfilaments. The first step in the process of contraction is for Ca++ to bind to troponin so that tropomyosin can slide away from the binding sites on the actin strands. This allows the myosin heads to bind to these exposed binding sites and form cross-bridges. The thin filaments are then pulled by the myosin heads to slide past the thick filaments toward the center of the sarcomere. But each head can only pull a very short distance before it has reached its limit and must be re-cocked before it can pull again, a step that requires ATP.