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International Journal of Molecular... May 2020Actin is a widely expressed protein found in almost all eukaryotic cells. In humans, there are six different genes, which encode specific actin isoforms. Disease-causing... (Review)
Review
Actin is a widely expressed protein found in almost all eukaryotic cells. In humans, there are six different genes, which encode specific actin isoforms. Disease-causing mutations have been described for each of these, most of which are missense. Analysis of the position of the resulting mutated residues in the protein reveals mutational hotspots. Many of these occur in regions important for actin polymerization. We briefly discuss the challenges in characterizing the effects of these actin mutations, with a focus on cardiac actin mutations.
Topics: Actins; Animals; Humans; Muscle, Skeletal; Muscular Diseases; Mutation, Missense; Myocardium; Myosins; Polymerization; Protein Isoforms
PubMed: 32397632
DOI: 10.3390/ijms21093371 -
Anatomical Record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) Dec 2018Actin is one of the most abundant intracellular proteins, essential in every eukaryotic cell type. Actin plays key roles in tissue morphogenesis, cell adhesion, muscle... (Review)
Review
Actin is one of the most abundant intracellular proteins, essential in every eukaryotic cell type. Actin plays key roles in tissue morphogenesis, cell adhesion, muscle contraction, and developmental reprogramming. Most actin studies have focused on its regulation at the protein level, either directly or through differential interactions with over a hundred intracellular binding partners. However, numerous studies emerging in recent years demonstrate specific types of nucleotide-level regulation that strongly affect non-muscle actins during cell migration and adhesion and are potentially applicable to other members of the actin family. This regulation involves zipcode-mediated actin mRNA targeting to the cell periphery, proposed to mediate local synthesis of actin at the cell leading edge, as well as the recently discovered N-terminal arginylation that specifically targets non-muscle β-actin via a nucleotide-dependent mechanism. Moreover, a study published this year suggests that actin's essential roles at the organismal level may be entirely nucleotide-dependent. This review summarizes the emerging data on actin's nucleotide-level regulation. Anat Rec, 301:1991-1998, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Topics: Actin Cytoskeleton; Actins; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Humans; Protein Biosynthesis; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; RNA Interference
PubMed: 30312009
DOI: 10.1002/ar.23958 -
The Journal of Biological Chemistry Jul 2015Cell physiological processes require the regulation and coordination of both mechanical and dynamical properties of the actin cytoskeleton. Here we review recent... (Review)
Review
Cell physiological processes require the regulation and coordination of both mechanical and dynamical properties of the actin cytoskeleton. Here we review recent advances in understanding the mechanical properties and stability of actin filaments and how these properties are manifested at larger (network) length scales. We discuss how forces can influence local biochemical interactions, resulting in the formation of mechanically sensitive dynamic steady states. Understanding the regulation of such force-activated chemistries and dynamic steady states reflects an important challenge for future work that will provide valuable insights as to how the actin cytoskeleton engenders mechanoresponsiveness of living cells.
Topics: Actin Cytoskeleton; Actins; Animals; Biomechanical Phenomena; Humans; Models, Molecular; Protein Structure, Tertiary
PubMed: 25957404
DOI: 10.1074/jbc.R115.636472 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Sep 2023Cellular form and function are controlled by the assembly and stability of actin cytoskeletal structures-but disassembling/pruning these structures is equally essential...
Cellular form and function are controlled by the assembly and stability of actin cytoskeletal structures-but disassembling/pruning these structures is equally essential for the plasticity and remodeling that underlie behavioral adaptations. Importantly, the mechanisms of actin assembly have been well-defined-including that it is driven by actin's polymerization into filaments (F-actin) and then often bundling by crosslinking proteins into stable higher-order structures. In contrast, it remains less clear how these stable bundled F-actin structures are rapidly disassembled. We now uncover mechanisms that rapidly and extensively disassemble bundled F-actin. Using biochemical, structural, and imaging assays with purified proteins, we show that F-actin bundled with one of the most prominent crosslinkers, fascin, is extensively disassembled by Mical, the F-actin disassembly enzyme. Furthermore, the product of this Mical effect, Mical-oxidized actin, is poorly bundled by fascin, thereby further amplifying Mical's disassembly effects on bundled F-actin. Moreover, another critical F-actin regulator, cofilin, also affects fascin-bundled filaments, but we find herein that it synergizes with Mical to dramatically amplify its disassembly of bundled F-actin compared to the sum of their individual effects. Genetic and high-resolution cellular assays reveal that Mical also counteracts crosslinking proteins/bundled F-actin in vivo to control cellular extension, axon guidance, and Semaphorin/Plexin cell-cell repulsion. Yet, our results also support the idea that fascin-bundling serves to dampen Mical's F-actin disassembly in vitro and in vivo-and that physiologically relevant cellular remodeling requires a fine-tuned interplay between the factors that build bundled F-actin networks and those that disassemble them.
Topics: Actins; Actin Depolymerizing Factors; Actin Cytoskeleton; Cytoskeleton; Axon Guidance
PubMed: 37725655
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2309955120 -
International Journal of Molecular... Sep 2023Quantum dots (QDs) are a type of nanoparticle with excellent optical properties, suitable for many optical-based biomedical applications. However, the potential of...
Quantum dots (QDs) are a type of nanoparticle with excellent optical properties, suitable for many optical-based biomedical applications. However, the potential of quantum dots to be used in clinical settings is limited by their toxicity. As such, much effort has been invested to examine the mechanism of QDs' toxicity. Yet, the current literature mainly focuses on ROS- and apoptosis-mediated cell death induced by QDs, which overlooks other aspects of QDs' toxicity. Thus, our study aimed to provide another way by which QDs negatively impact cellular processes by investigating the possibility of protein structure and function modification upon direct interaction. Through shotgun proteomics, we identified a number of QD-binding proteins, which are functionally associated with essential cellular processes and components, such as transcription, translation, vesicular trafficking, and the actin cytoskeleton. Among these proteins, we chose to closely examine the interaction between quantum dots and actin, as actin is one of the most abundant proteins in cells and plays crucial roles in cellular processes and structural maintenance. We found that CdSe/ZnS QDs spontaneously bind to G-actin in vitro, causing a static quenching of G-actin's intrinsic fluorescence. Furthermore, we found that this interaction favors the formation of a QD-actin complex with a binding ratio of 1:2.5. Finally, we also found that CdSe/ZnS QDs alter the secondary structure of G-actin, which may affect G-actin's function and properties. Overall, our study provides an in-depth mechanistic examination of the impact of CdSe/ZnS QDs on G-actin, proposing that direct interaction is another aspect of QDs' toxicity.
Topics: Actins; Quantum Dots; Zinc Compounds; Sulfides; Selenium Compounds
PubMed: 37834208
DOI: 10.3390/ijms241914760 -
Current Opinion in Cell Biology Feb 2009The regulated assembly of actin filament networks is a crucial part of endocytosis, with crucial temporal and spatial relationships between proteins of the endocytic and... (Review)
Review
The regulated assembly of actin filament networks is a crucial part of endocytosis, with crucial temporal and spatial relationships between proteins of the endocytic and actin assembly machinery. Of particular importance has been a wealth of studies in budding and fission yeast. Cell biology approaches, combined with molecular genetics, have begun to uncover the complexity of the regulation of actin dynamics during the endocytic process. In a wide range of organisms, clathrin-mediated endocytosis appears to be linked to Arp2/3-mediated actin assembly. The conservation of the components, across a wide range eukaryotic species, suggests that the partnership between endocytosis and actin may be evolutionarily ancient.
Topics: Actins; Animals; Biological Evolution; Endocytosis; Eukaryotic Cells; Phylogeny
PubMed: 19186047
DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2009.01.006 -
Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology Jun 2020Actin is one of the most abundant and essential intracellular proteins that mediates nearly every form of cellular movement and underlies such key processes as... (Review)
Review
Actin is one of the most abundant and essential intracellular proteins that mediates nearly every form of cellular movement and underlies such key processes as embryogenesis, tissue integrity, cell division and contractility of all types of muscle and non-muscle cells. In mammals, actin is represented by six isoforms, which are encoded by different genes but produce proteins that are 95-99 % identical to each other. The six actin genes have vastly different functions in vivo, and the small amino acid differences between the proteins they encode are rigorously maintained through evolution, but the underlying differences behind this distinction, as well as the importance of specific amino acid sequences for each actin isoform, are not well understood. This review summarizes different levels of actin isoform-specific regulation in cellular and developmental processes, starting with the nuclear actin's role in transcription, and covering the gene-level, mRNA-level, and protein-level regulation, with a special focus on mammalian actins in non-muscle cells.
Topics: Actins; Animals; Cells; Growth and Development; Humans; Protein Isoforms
PubMed: 32001148
DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2019.12.003 -
Current Opinion in Cell Biology Feb 2013Many of the best-studied actin regulatory proteins use non-covalent means to modulate the properties of actin. Yet, actin is also susceptible to covalent modifications... (Review)
Review
Many of the best-studied actin regulatory proteins use non-covalent means to modulate the properties of actin. Yet, actin is also susceptible to covalent modifications of its amino acids. Recent work is increasingly revealing that actin processing and its covalent modifications regulate important cellular events. In addition, numerous pathogens express enzymes that specifically use actin as a substrate to regulate their hosts' cells. Actin post-translational alterations have been linked to different normal and disease processes and the effects associated with metabolic and environmental stressors. Herein, we highlight specific co-translational and post-translational modifications of actin and discuss the current understanding of the role that these modifications play in regulating actin.
Topics: ADP Ribose Transferases; Acetylation; Actins; Animals; Glycosylation; Humans; Methylation; Oxidation-Reduction; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; Sumoylation; Ubiquitination
PubMed: 23195437
DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2012.10.009 -
Molecular Biology of the Cell Mar 2018
Topics: Actins; Animals; Congresses as Topic; Humans; Models, Biological; Schizosaccharomyces
PubMed: 29535179
DOI: 10.1091/mbc.E18-01-0010 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Oct 2022Actin is the most abundant protein in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells and interacts with hundreds of proteins to perform essential functions, including cell motility...
Actin is the most abundant protein in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells and interacts with hundreds of proteins to perform essential functions, including cell motility and cytokinesis. Numerous diseases are caused by mutations in actin, but studying the biochemistry of actin mutants is difficult without a reliable method to obtain recombinant actin. Moreover, biochemical studies have typically used tissue-purified α-actin, whereas humans express six isoforms that are nearly identical but perform specialized functions and are difficult to obtain in isolation from natural sources. Here, we describe a solution to the problem of actin expression and purification. We obtain high yields of actin isoforms in human Expi293F cells. Experiments along the multistep purification protocol demonstrate the removal of endogenous actin and the functional integrity of recombinant actin isoforms. Proteomics analysis of endogenous vs. recombinant actin isoforms confirms the presence of native posttranslational modifications, including N-terminal acetylation achieved after affinity-tag removal using the actin-specific enzyme Naa80. The method described facilitates studies of actin under fully native conditions to determine differences among isoforms and the effects of disease-causing mutations that occur in all six isoforms.
Topics: Acetylation; Actins; Cell Movement; Humans; Protein Isoforms; Protein Processing, Post-Translational
PubMed: 36197995
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2209150119