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Sustained High Power Performance

Possible Strategies for Integrating Energy Supply and Demand in Flight Muscle

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Nature’s Versatile Engine: Insect Flight Muscle Inside and Out

Part of the book series: Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit ((MBIU))

Abstract

The high power output necessary for insect flight has resulted in the evolution of muscles with large and abundant myofibrils, the so called ‘myofibrillar’ muscles. In principle, this modification should come with a trade-off as the broader diameter of the myofibril would slow ATP/ADP flux and potentially constrain muscle speed (myosin ATPase). However asynchronous flight muscle exhibits no such trade-off as it simultaneously displays speed, power, and endurance. Insect flight muscle appears to lack the components for a phosphagen shuttle system that would provide temporal and spatial buffering of nucleotides. The reliance on a phosphagen shuttle is partly alleviated by the proximity of mitochondria to myofibrils. We present a model for how IFM meets its operational demands by minimizing nucleotide diffusion and facilitating the import and export of nucleotides to the myofibril.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA

    Vivek Vishnudas

  2. Department of Biology and Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Cell and Molecular Biology Program, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA

    Jim O. Vigoreaux

Authors
  1. Vivek Vishnudas
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  2. Jim O. Vigoreaux
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Vishnudas, V., Vigoreaux, J.O. (2006). Sustained High Power Performance. In: Nature’s Versatile Engine: Insect Flight Muscle Inside and Out. Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-31213-7_15

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