Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29165242›Full record

ArticleeLife2017

Fundamental constraints in synchronous muscle limit superfast motor control in vertebrates.

Andrew F Mead, Nerea Osinalde, Niels Ørtenblad, Joachim Nielsen, Jonathan Brewer, Michiel Vellema, Iris Adam, Constance Scharff, Yafeng Song, Ulrik Frandsen and 3 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed
4.2field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 53 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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  5. Transitions and tricks: nonlinear phenomena in the avian voice.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  6. Vocal registers expand signal diversity in vertebrate vocal communication.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Ultrafast sound production mechanism in one of the smallest vertebrates.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
  9. Article
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  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. CaThe FEBS journal · 2022
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
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  19. Article
  20. Increasing Muscle Speed Drives Changes in the Neuromuscular Transform of Motor Commands during Postnatal Development in Songbirds.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2020
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.

Andrew F MeadDepartment of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-4716-2149
Nerea OsinaldeDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Niels ØrtenbladDepartment of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Joachim NielsenDepartment of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0003-1730-3094
Jonathan BrewerDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Michiel VellemaDepartment of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Iris AdamInstitute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-7561-7636
Constance ScharffInstitute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-5792-076X
Yafeng SongPerelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States.
Ulrik FrandsenDepartment of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0001-5816-4823
Blagoy BlagoevDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0002-3596-0066
Irina KratchmarovaDepartment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0001-6613-7315
Coen Ph ElemansDepartment of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0001-6306-5715
University of Southern Denmark · DKFreie Universität Berlin · DEUniversity of Pennsylvania · USUniversity of the Basque Country · ESUniversity of Vermont · US

Funding

Training in Muscle Biology and Muscle DiseaseT32AR053461 · NIAMS · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI OSTAP, E. MICHAEL · 2006 to 2025
$4.9M
NIAMS NIH HHS T32 AR053461
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Superfast muscles (SFMs) are extremely fast synchronous muscles capable of contraction rates up to 250 Hz, enabling precise motor execution at the millisecond time scale. SFM phenotypes have been discovered in most major vertebrate lineages, but it remains unknown whether all SFMs share excitation-contraction coupling pathway adaptations for speed, and if SFMs arose once, or from independent evolutionary events. Here, we demonstrate that to achieve rapid actomyosin crossbridge kinetics bat and songbird SFM express myosin heavy chain genes that are evolutionarily and ontologically distinct. Furthermore, we show that all known SFMs share multiple functional adaptations that minimize excitation-contraction coupling transduction times. Our results suggest that SFM evolved independently in sound-producing organs in ray-finned fish, birds, and mammals, and that SFM phenotypes operate at a maximum operational speed set by fundamental constraints in synchronous muscle. Consequentially, these constraints set a fundamental limit to the maximum speed of fine motor control.

Indexed as

Muscle ContractionActomyosinAnimalsBiological EvolutionChiropteraMusclesSongbirdsActomyosinbatbiomechanicsbiophysicsneurosciencestructural biologytoadfishzebra finch

Identifiers

PMID29165242
PMCPMC5699865
OpenAlexW2951586487

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.