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Titin: structure, isoforms and functional regulation

GUO Chun-Jie, YU Liang, LI Yan-Jin, ZHOU Yue^*

Department of Exercise Physiology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract

Titin, the largest known protein in the body expressed in three isoforms (N2A, N2BA and N2B), is essential for muscle structure, force generation, conduction and regulation. Since the 1950s, muscle contraction mechanisms have been explained by the sliding filament theory involving thin and thick muscle filaments, while the contribution of cytoskeleton in force generation and conduction was ignored. With the discovery of insoluble protein residues and large molecular weight proteins in muscle fibers, the third myofilament, titin, has been identified and attracted a lot of interests. The development of single molecule mechanics and gene sequencing technology further contributed to the extensive studies on the arrangement, structure, elastic properties and components of titin in sarcomere. Therefore, this paper reviews the structure, isforms classification, elastic function and regulatory factors of titin, to provide better understanding of titin.

Key words: muscle elasticity; sarcomere; cytoskeleton; titin; titin isoforms

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 周越　　E-mail: chowyue@163.com

Citing This Article：

GUO Chun-Jie, YU Liang, LI Yan-Jin, ZHOU Yue. Titin: structure, isoforms and functional regulation. Acta Physiol Sin 2023; 75 (4): 544-554 (in Chinese with English abstract).