
Although lattice kinematics were predictable within trials, the model could not create predictions across trials. Using a mechanism-free machine learning model we searched for patterns within and across trials. While the kinematics were consistent within individual trials, there was extensive variation between trials. Lattice dilation of this magnitude significantly affects shortening velocity and force generation, and filament stretching tunes force generation. In contrast to other in vivo preparations, lattice spacing changed an average of 2.72% (s.d. 0.32) and thin filaments stretched 1.11% (s.d. In addition, the thick filaments stretched an average of 0.75% (s.d. sexta are synchronous, we used these results to reveal the timing of in vivo cross-bridge recruitment, which occurred 24 ms (s.d. We used time-resolved X-ray diffraction to record the kinematics of the myofilament lattice within a normal operating context: the tethered flight of Manduca sexta. Although the motions of muscle's contractile machinery are well described in isolated preparations, only a handful of experiments have documented the kinematics of the lattice occurring when multi-scale interactions are fully intact. Muscle function within an organism depends on the feedback between molecular and meter-scale processes.
