title: Structural insights into actin-binding, branching and bundling proteins.
abstract: Structural advances in our understanding of the functions of the actin cytoskeleton have come from diverse sources. On the one hand, the determination of the structure of a bacterial actin-like protein MreB reveals the prokaryotic origins of the actin cytoskeleton, whereas on the other, cryo-electron microscopy and crystallography have yielded reconstructions of many actin crosslinking, regulatory and binding proteins in complex with F-actin. Not least, a high-resolution structure of the Arp2/3 complex and a reconstruction with F-actin provides considerable insight into the eukaryotic machinery, vital for the formation of new F-actin barbed ends, a prerequisite for rapid actin polymerisation involved in cell shape change and motility.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Cell Biology Group, Davidson Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK. s.winder@bio.gla.ac.uk
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Winder
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051377:Actin-Related Protein 2; D000818:Animals; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary / Q000502:physiology; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: C495926:ACTR2 protein, human; D051377:Actin-Related Protein 2; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; C052523:actin filament bundling proteins