Muscle Protein

Previously I discussed what proteins and amino acids and DNA look like, I'd like to start putting into my blog some of the amazing discoveries in biology of the last few years. First, we'll start with the fruit fly. That's a critter that has been researched extensively. It has muscle proteins, just as many animals do, including humans. It uses muscles to move in various ways. See the set of muscles HERE. The muscles are made of different components which are pictured HERE. One part of the muscle fiber, myosin, is made of 3 sets of proteins: 2 heavy chains of myosin and 4 light ones. Below is the amino acid sequence for the heavy chain. I got this from the UniProt website. I have a link to their home page HERE. I also have a link HERE to muscle in Wikipedia if you want more information on muscle. Click the pictures there to see bigger versions.

The letters each stand for an amino acid. For example, M is for methionine and P stands for proline. The numbers tell you how many there are (they are more spread out on UniProt). You can look this one up from the UniProt site by going to the QUERY BOX at the top of the page and putting in the code for this one which happens to be P05661 (the 0 is a zero) or just click HERE. The file you get shows you the protein sequence, the people who did the work on it, and some information about it. It's fascinating.

10 20 30 40 50 60
MPKPVANQED EDPTPYLFVS LEQRRIDQSK PYDSKKSCWI PDEKEGYLLG EIKATKGDIV

70 80 90 100 110 120
SVGLQGGEVR DIKSEKVEKV NPPKFEKIED MADMTVLNTP CVLHNLRQRY YAKLIYTYSG

130 140 150 160 170 180
LFCVAINPYK RYPVYTNRCA KMYRGKRRNE VPPHIFAISD GAYVDMLTNH VNQSMLITGE

190 200 210 220 230 240
SGAGKTENTK KVIAYFATVG ASKKTDEAAK SKGSLEDQVV QTNPVLEAFG NAKTVRNDNS

250 260 270 280 290 300
SRFGKFIRIH FGPTGKLAGA DIETYLLEKA RVISQQSLER SYHIFYQIMS GSVPGVKDIC

310 320 330 340 350 360
LLTDNIYDYH IVSQGKVTVA SIDDAEEFSL TDQAFDILGF TKQEKEDVYR ITAAVMHMGG

370 380 390 400 410 420
MKFKQRGREE QAEQDGEEEG GRVSKLFGCD TAELYKNLLK PRIKVGNEFV TQGRNVQQVT

430 440 450 460 470 480
NSIGALCKGV FDRLFKWLVK KCNETLDTQQ KRQHFIGVLD IAGFEIFEYN GFEQLCINFT

490 500 510 520 530 540
NEKLQQFFNH IMFVMEQEEY KKEGINWDFI DFGMDLLACI DLIEKPMGIL SILEEESMFP

550 560 570 580 590 600
KATDQTFSEK LTNTHLGKSA PFQKPKPPKP GQQAAHFAIA HYAGCVSYNI TGWLEKNKDP

610 620 630 640 650 660
LNDTVVDQFK KSQNKLLIEI FADHAGQSGG GEQAKGGRGK KGGGFATVSS AYKEQLNSLM

670 680 690 700 710 720
TTLRSTQPHF VRCIIPNEMK QPGVVDAHLV MHQLTCNGVL EGIRICRKGF PNRMMYPDFK

730 740 750 760 770 780
MRYQILNPRG IKDLDCPKKA SKVLIESTEL NEDLYRLGHT KVFFRAGVLG QMEEFRDERL

790 800 810 820 830 840
GKIMSWMQAW ARGYLSRKGF KKLQEQRVAL KVVQRNLRKY LQLRTWPWYK LWQKVKPLLN

850 860 870 880 890 900
VSRIEDEIAR LEEKAKKAEE LHAAEVKVRK ELEALNAKLL AEKTALLDSL SGEKGALQDY

910 920 930 940 950 960
QERNAKLTAQ KNDLENQLRD IQERLTQEED ARNQLFQQKK KADQEISGLK KDIEDLELNV

970 980 990 1000 1010 1020
QKAEQDKATK DHQIRNLNDE IAHQDELINK LNKEKKMQGE TNQKTGEELQ AAEDKINHLN

1030 1040 1050 1060 1070 1080
KVKAKLEQTL DELEDSLERE KKVRGDVEKS KRKVEGDLKL TQEAVADLER NKKELEQTIQ

1090 1100 1110 1120 1130 1140
RKDKELSSIT AKLEDEQVVV LKHQRQIKEL QARIEELEEE VEAERQARAK AEKQRADLAR

1150 1160 1170 1180 1190 1200
ELEELGERLE EAGGATSAQI ELNKKREAEL SKLRRDLEEA NIQHESTLAN LRKKHNDAVA

1210 1220 1230 1240 1250 1260
EMAEQVDQLN KLKAKAEHDR QTCHNELNQT RTACDQLGRD KAAQEKIAKQ LQHTLNEVQS

1270 1280 1290 1300 1310 1320
KLDETNRTLN DFDASKKKLS IENSDLLRQL EEAESQVSQL SKIKISLTTQ LEDTKRLADE

1330 1340 1350 1360 1370 1380
ESRERATLLG KFRNLEHDLD NLREQVEEEA EGKADLQRQL SKANAEAQVW RSKYESDGVA

1390 1400 1410 1420 1430 1440
RSEELEEAKR KLQARLAEAE ETIESLNQKC IGLEKTKQRL STEVEDLQLE VDRANAIANA

1450 1460 1470 1480 1490 1500
AEKKQKAFDK IIGEWKLKVD DLAAELDASQ KECRNYSTEL FRLKGAYEEG QEQLEAVRRE

1510 1520 1530 1540 1550 1560
NKNLADEVKD LLDQIGEGGR NIHEIEKARK RLEAEKDELQ AALEEAEAAL EQEENKVLRA

1570 1580 1590 1600 1610 1620
QLELSQVRQE IDRRIQEKEE EFENTRKNHQ RALDSMQASL EAEAKGKAEA LRMKKKLEAD

1630 1640 1650 1660 1670 1680
INELEIALDH ANKANAEAQK NIKRYQQQLK DIQTALEEEQ RARDDAREQL GISERRANAL

1690 1700 1710 1720 1730 1740
QNELEESRTL LEQADRGRRQ AEQELADAHE QLNEVSAQNA SISAAKRKLE SELQTLHSDL

1750 1760 1770 1780 1790 1800
DELLNEAKNS EEKAKKAMVD AARLADELRA EQDHAQTQEK LRKALEQQIK ELQVRLDEAE

1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860
ANALKGGKKA IQKLEQRVRE LENELDGEQR RHADAQKNLR KSERRVKELS FQSEEDRKNH

1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920
ERMQDLVDKL QQKIKTYKRQ IEEAEEIAAL NLAKFRKAQQ ELEEAEERAD LAEQAISKFR

1930 1940 1950 1960
AKGRAGSVGR GASPAPRATS VRPQFDGLAF PPRFDLAPEN EF

You may wonder why I put the sequences of part of a muscle fiber of a fruitfly on my blog. I want to show you the type of information that is used in Intelligent Design Theory. This fiber has over 1900 amino acids in a row (called a sequence). There are 20 kinds of amino acids in an order that works only for this muscle fiber. That is called a specified order. It is also called complex because of all of the amino acids needed. In Intelligent Design Theory (ID), the biology of living systems is believed to be Irreducibly Complex. In other words, you can't get the muscle of the fruitfly to work if it doesn't have all or at least most of these amino acids. ID also says that biological machines such as muscle are of Specified Complexity. The amino acids have to be specifically where they are to work. These two components of ID have been written about by Michael Behe in Darwin's Black Box (Simon and Schuster, 1996) and William Dembski in Intelligent Design (InterVarsity Press, 1999).

Update 1/21/2013: My interest in Intelligent Design Theory (ID) has changed to what is called "Special Creationism," the belief that God created species separately and directly. Much of the biological science in ID is similar to Special Creationism.