Multiscale simulation of actin filaments and actin-associated proteins

Hirano body filaments contain actin and actin-associated proteins.

Hirano bodies are eosinophilic, rod-shaped intraneuronal inclusions whose frequency increases with age and with Alzheimer's disease. To investigate their composition and possible relationship to the neuronal cytoskeleton, we employed immunocytochemistry and immunoelectronmicroscopy by using antisera to cytoskeletal proteins. The presence of actin, alpha-actinin, vinculin and tropomyosin was dem...

Actin Filaments

Measuring molecular rupture forces between single actin filaments and actin-binding proteins.

Actin-binding proteins (ABPs) regulate the assembly of actin filaments (F-actin) into networks and bundles that provide the structural integrity of the cell. Two of these ABPs, filamin and alpha-actinin, have been extensively used to model the mechanical properties of actin networks grown in vitro; however, there is a lack in the understanding of how the molecular interactions between ABPs and ...

Lamellipodin promotes actin assembly by clustering Ena/VASP proteins and tethering them to actin filaments

Enabled/Vasodilator (Ena/VASP) proteins promote actin filament assembly at multiple locations, including: leading edge membranes, focal adhesions, and the surface of intracellular pathogens. One important Ena/VASP regulator is the mig-10/Lamellipodin/RIAM family of adaptors that promote lamellipod formation in fibroblasts and drive neurite outgrowth and axon guidance in neurons. To better under...

Mechano-sensing by actin filaments and focal adhesion proteins

Mechanosensitive ion channels have long been the only established molecular class of cell mechanosensors with known molecular entities. However, recent advances in the state-of-the-art techniques, including single-molecule manipulation and imaging, have enabled an investigation of non-channel type cell mechanosensors and the underlying biophysical mechanisms of their activation. To date, two fo...