Actin, a major component of microfilaments, is involved in various eukaryotic cellular functions. Over the past two decades, actin fused with fluorescent protein has been used as a probe to detect the organization and dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton in living eukaryotic cells. It is generally assumed that the expression of fusion protein of fluorescent protein does not disturb the distributi...

Microtubule dynamics and polarity stem from the polymerization of αβ-tubulin heterodimers. Five conserved tubulin cofactors/chaperones and the Arl2 GTPase regulate α- and β-tubulin assembly into heterodimers and maintain the soluble tubulin pool in the cytoplasm, but their physical mechanisms are unknown. Here, we reconstitute a core tubulin chaperone consisting of tubulin cofactors TBCD, TBCE,...

mesenchymal stem cells (mscs) have the ability to differentiate into neuronal like cells under appropriate culture condition. in this study, we investigated whether mscs derived from human peripheral blood (pb-mscs) can differentiate into neuronal like cells by synergic effect of the growth factors egf, bfgf and noggin. for this purpose, the expression of five neuronal markers (nestin, β iii tu...

The local translation of β-actin is one mechanism proposed to regulate spatially-restricted actin polymerization crucial for nearly all aspects of neuronal development and function. However, the physiological significance of localized β-actin translation in neurons has not yet been demonstrated in vivo. To investigate the role of β-actin in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS), we charact...

Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disorder and clinically characterized by bradykinesia, rigidity, resting tremor. Missense mutations in the leucine-rich repeat protein kinase-2 gene (LRRK2) are recognized cause of inherited disease. The physiological pathological impact LRRK2 still obscure, but accumulating evidence indicates that orchestrates diverse aspects membrane trafficki...

We have previously demonstrated the ability of I-Trp to disrupt the protein-protein interaction of β-tubulin with chaperonin-containing TCP-1β (CCT-β). This caused more severe apoptosis in multidrug-resistant MES-SA/Dx5, compared to MES-SA, due to its higher CCT-β overexpression. In this study, we screened a panel of cancer cell lines, finding CCT-β overexpression in the triple-negative breast ...

We have studied the dogfish erythrocyte cytoskeletal system, which consists of a marginal band of microtubules (MB) and trans-marginal band material (TBM). The TBM appeared in whole mounts as a rough irregular network and in thin sections as a surface-delimiting layer completely enclosing nucleus and MB. In cells incubated at 0 degrees C for 30 min or more, the MB disappeared but the TBM remain...

Actin is present at high concentrations in virtually every eukaryotic cell. About half of the intracellular actin is stabilised in its monomeric form (G-actin) by interaction with sequestering factors (Pollard and Cooper, 1986). This monomeric actin can be used for the fast generation of new actin filaments after an appropriate intra-or extracellular signal (Carlier and Pantaloni, 1994). The β-...

Vinca alkaloids are used widely in the treatment of both childhood and adult cancers. Their cellular target is the beta-tubulin subunit of alpha/beta-tubulin heterodimers, and they act to inhibit cell division by disrupting microtubule dynamics. Despite the effectiveness of these agents, drug resistance is a major clinical problem. To identify the underlying mechanisms behind vinca alkaloid res...