Cooperative activation of the thin filament is known to be influenced by the tight binding of myosin to actin, but the molecular mechanism underlying this contribution of myosin is not well understood. To better understand the structural relationship of myosin with the regulatory troponin complex, resonance energy transfer measurements were used to map the location of troponin relative to a neighboring myosin bound to actin using atomic models. Using a chicken troponin T isoform that contains a single cysteine near the binding interface between troponins T, I, and C, this uniquely labeled cysteine on troponin was found to be remarkably near loop 3 of myosin. This loop has previously been localized near the actin and myosin interface by chemical cross-linking methods, but its functional contributions have not been established. The implications of this close proximity are examined by molecular modeling, which suggests that only restricted conformations of actomyosin can accommodate the presence of troponin at this location near the cross-bridge. This potential for interaction between troponin and myosin heads that bind near it along the thin filament raises the possibility of models in which direct myosin and troponin interactions may play a role in the regulatory mechanism.The molecular regulation of striated muscle contraction depends on the interactions of a highly organized macromolecular network of proteins in the thin filament. Troponin (Tn), 1 tropomyosin (Tm), and actin constitute the majority of the thin filament and are initially signaled by the binding of Ca 2+ (1). They bind to an actin filament core formed by an array of actin monomers, and the position of Tm is believed to be influenced by Ca 2+ and myosin binding (2,3). The head to tail association of Tm dimers forms a cofilament on actin with each Tm dimer binding about seven actin monomers (4). Tn, the companion regulatory protein, is a complex of three proteins, TnT, TnI, and TnC (5), that binds along the actin filament every † We gratefully acknowledge support from the National Institutes of Health, Grant AR44737. *Corresponding author. DROOT@UNT.EDU. Phone: 940-565-2683. Fax: 940-565-4136. 1 Abbreviations: AlF 4 , aluminum fluoride; AmrB, aminorhodamine B; BeF x , beryllium fluoride; β-me, β-mercaptoethanol; CM, carboxymethyl; CS124, carbostyril 124, 7-amino-4-methyl-2(1H)-quinolinone; C-TnT, C-terminal of TnT; DEAE, diethylaminoethyl; DMF, dimethylformamide; DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide; DTNB, 5,5′-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid), Ellman's reagent; DTPA, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid; DTT, dithiothreitol; ε, molar extinction coefficient; E, efficiency of energy transfer; E-64, transepoxysuccinyl-L-leucylamido(4-guanidino)butane; EDTA, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; EGTA, ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid; ELC, essential light chain; Em λ, emission wavelength; F-actin, filamentous actin; FHS, fluorescein-5(6)-carboxamidocaoric-Nhydroxysuccinimide; FRET, fluorescence resonance energy transfer; LRET, luminescence resonance energy transfe...