Life · life
Myosin
Motor · Mg, Ca, P
- Numbers
- Each head cycles a few times a second; a muscle shortens because a great many heads are pulling at once, not because any one is fast.
- Kind
- Motor
Function
The motor of muscle. Heads project from a thick filament, grab the neighbouring actin filament, pull, and let go — millions in parallel and out of step, so the pull is smooth. Calcium is the signal that uncovers the binding sites and starts it.
Open on the Life shelf — the interactive card, the filters, and everything alongside it.