Phalloidin enhances actin assembly by preventing monomer dissociation

Incubation of the isolated acrosomal bundles of Limulus sperm with skeletal muscle actin results in assembly of actin onto both ends of the bundles. These cross-linked bundles of actin filaments taper, thus allowing one to distinguish directly the preferred end for actin assembly from the nonpreferred end; the preferred end is thinner. Incubation with actin in the presence of equimolar phalloidin in 100 mM KCl, 1 mM MgCl2 and 0.5 mM ATP at pH 7.5 resulted in a slightly smaller association rate constant at the preferred end than in the absence of the drug (3.36 +/- 0.14 X 10(6) M-1 s-1 vs. 2.63 +/- 0.22 X 10(6) M-1 s-1, control vs. experimental). In the presence of phalloidin, the dissociation rate constant at the preferred end was reduced from 0.317 +/- 0.097 s-1 to essentially zero. Consequently, the critical concentration at the preferred end dropped from 0.10 microM to zero in the presence of the drug. There was no detectable change in the rate constant of association at the nonpreferred end in the presence of phalloidin (0.256 +/- 0.015 X 10(6) M-1 s-1 vs. 0.256 +/- 0.043 X 10(6) M-1 s-1, control vs. experimental); however, the dissociation rate constant was reduced from 0.269 +/- 0.043 s-1 to essentially zero. Thus, the critical concentration at the nonpreferred end changed from 1.02 microM to zero in the presence of phalloidin. Dilution-induced depolymerization at both the preferred and nonpreferred ends was prevented in the presence of phalloidin. Thus, phalloidin enhances actin assembly by lowering the critical concentration at both ends of actin filaments, a consequence of reducing the dissociation rate constants at each end.