In vitro movements of actin and myosin filaments from muscle

Abstract Unidirectional sliding of myosin filaments along F‐actin bundles was produced with purified muscle actin and myosin in the presence of ATP. The velocity of myosin filament sliding was independent of myosin filament length. This result supports a recent hypothesis that long distance movement of myosin cross‐bridge can be induced by splitting of one ATP molecule [Yanagida, Arata, and Oosawa, 1985. Nature. 316:366–369; Higashi‐Fujime. 1985. J. Cell Biol., 101:2335–2344].