Myosin Mechanochemistry in Striated Muscle: Kinetics, Energetics, and Multiscale Function

This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of how myosin motor kinetics and energetic constraints shape striated muscle mechanics in health and disease. The collection seeks mechanistic studies that connect molecular cross-bridge behavior and nucleotide state transitions to emergent properties such as force, shortening velocity, power output, and economy of contraction in skeletal and cardiac muscle.

We welcome experimental and computational work spanning single-molecule biophysics to intact muscle performance, especially studies that link phosphate/ADP dynamics, myosin regulatory states, and metabolic supply to physiological function under changing workloads. This project also seeks to foster practical applications by highlighting mechanisms relevant to cardiomyopathies, myopathies, fatigue, and therapeutic modulation of contractility.

Main interests include:
- Cross-bridge kinetics and regulatory states in skeletal and cardiac muscle
- Effects of Pi/ADP and metabolic constraints on force and shortening
- Multiscale modeling from molecular motors to tissue mechanics
- Coupling of energetics to contractile performance and fatigue
- Variant- or disease-linked changes in myosin function with physiological readouts
- Specialized muscle systems and comparative approaches that reveal conserved principles

Submissions should provide in-depth mechanistic knowledge and connect motor-level processes to striated muscle function and dysfunction.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: myosin motor kinetics, cross-bridge cycling, muscle energetics, force–velocity relationship, multiscale modeling, muscle fatigue, cardiomyopathies

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.