Movement of myosin-coated structures on actin cables.

Myosin-coated spheres from 0.6 to 120 microns in diameter move in vitro on a substratum of polar arrays of actin cables derived from the alga Nitella. The force for this movement is provided by skeletal muscle myosin since it is ATP-dependent, and N-ethylmaleimide (NEM) inactivation of the myosin blocks movement. These observations demonstrate that attachment of myosin in a random orientation to structures will enable those structures to move along polar arrays of actin filaments.