title: Actin nucleation: spire - actin nucleator in a class of its own.
abstract: The rate limiting step for actin filament polymerisation is nucleation, and two types of nucleator have been described: the Arp2/3 complex and the formins. A recent study has now identified in Spire a third class of actin nucleator. The four short WH2 repeats within Spire bind four consecutive actin monomers to form a novel single strand nucleus for 'barbed end' actin filament elongation.
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, UCL Branch, London, UK. buzz@ludwig.ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Buzz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baum
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kunda
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; C096354:capu protein, Drosophila; C402385:spir protein, Drosophila; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate