Exploring molecular interactions in the Drosophila flight muscle thick filament: Insights into flightin-myosin binding

The thick filament in insect flight muscle is a complex containing the major protein myosin and many associated non-myosin proteins that tailor and determine the overall structure and function of the thick filament. Individual myosin molecules organize into myosin "curved molecular crystalline layers" which then organize to form the filament backbone. Arrangement into a filament of defined length with ordered helical symmetry is influenced by contributions from non-myosin proteins, like flightin, myofilin, and paramyosin, which bind the myosin tails at various regions through different mechanisms to stabilize the assembly.