Myosin to muscle cells (hence "myo-"(s) + "-in"), there is no single "myosin"; rather it is a very large superfamily of genes whose protein products share the basic properties of actin binding, ATP hydrolysis (ATPase enzyme activity), and force transduction. Virtually all eukaryotic cells contain myosin isoforms. Some isoforms have specialized functions in certain cell types (such as muscle), while other isoforms are ubiquitous. The structure and function of myosin is globally conserved across species, to the extent that rabbit muscle myosin II will bind to actin from an amoeba. Most myosin molecules are composed of a head, neck, and tail
Myosin cells, the long coiled-coil tails of the individual myosin molecules join together, forming the thick filaments of the sarcomere. The force-producing head domains stick out from the side of the thick filament, ready to walk along the adjacent actin-based thin filaments in response to the proper chemical signals. Myosin III is a poorly understood member of the myosin family. It has been studied "in vivo" in the eyes of "Drosophila", where it is thought to play a role in phototransduction. A human homologue gene for myosin III, MYO3A, has been uncovered through the Human Genome Project and is expressed in