Hugh E. Huxley (1924-2013) carried out structural studies by X-ray fiber diffraction and electron microscopy that established how muscle contracts. Huxley's sliding filament mechanism with an ATPase motor protein taking steps along an actin filament, established the paradigm not only for muscle contraction but also for other motile systems using actin and unconventional myosins, microtubules and dynein and microtubules and kinesin.
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