title: An actin-based wave generator organizes cell motility.
abstract: Although many of the regulators of actin assembly are known, we do not understand how these components act together to organize cell shape and movement. To address this question, we analyzed the spatial dynamics of a key actin regulator--the Scar/WAVE complex--which plays an important role in regulating cell shape in both metazoans and plants. We have recently discovered that the Hem-1/Nap1 component of the Scar/WAVE complex localizes to propagating waves that appear to organize the leading edge of a motile immune cell, the human neutrophil. Actin is both an output and input to the Scar/WAVE complex: the complex stimulates actin assembly, and actin polymer is also required to remove the complex from the membrane. These reciprocal interactions appear to generate propagated waves of actin nucleation that exhibit many of the properties of morphogenesis in motile cells, such as the ability of cells to flow around barriers and the intricate spatial organization of protrusion at the leading edge. We propose that cell motility results from the collective behavior of multiple self-organizing waves.
authors: Department of Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America. orion.weiner@ucsf.edu
authors: Orion D
authors: OD
authors: Weiner
authors: William A
authors: WA
authors: Marganski
authors: Lani F
authors: LF
authors: Wu
authors: Steven J
authors: SJ
authors: Altschuler
authors: Marc W
authors: MW
authors: Kirschner
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000502:physiology*; D002465:Cell Movement; D048430:Cell Shape; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D051300:Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein Family / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins; C114864:WASF1 protein, human; D051300:Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein Family; C095128:NCKAP1L protein, human
references: Science. 2000 Feb 11;287(5455):1037-40
references: 10669415
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 May 24;102(21):7601-6
references: 15894626
references: Trends Biochem Sci. 2001 Sep;26(9):557-66
references: 11551793
references: J Cell Biol. 2002 Feb 18;156(4):689-701
references: 11854309
references: Genes Dev. 2002 Mar 1;16(5):620-32
references: 11877381
references: Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2002 Apr;14(2):196-202
references: 11891119
references: Nature. 2002 Aug 15;418(6899):790-3
references: 12181570
references: Curr Biol. 2002 Dec 10;12(23):2029-34
references: 12477392
references: Nature. 2002 Dec 12;420(6916):629-35
references: 12478284
references: J Biol Chem. 2003 Jun 6;278(23):20445-8
references: 12672811
references: Cell. 2003 Jul 25;114(2):201-14
references: 12887922
references: Development. 2003 Sep;130(18):4427-37
references: 12900458
references: J Cell Biol. 2003 Sep 15;162(6):1079-88
references: 12975351
references: Curr Biol. 2003 Oct 28;13(21):1867-75
references: 14588242
references: Curr Biol. 2004 Jan 6;14(1):1-10
references: 14711408
references: Science. 2004 Feb 6;303(5659):839-42
references: 14764880
references: EMBO J. 2004 Feb 25;23(4):749-59
references: 14765121
references: Curr Biol. 2004 Aug 10;14(15):1405-9
references: 15296760
references: Curr Biol. 2004 Aug 10;14(15):1410-4
references: 15296761
references: Plant Cell. 2004 Sep;16(9):2335-49
references: 15316111
references: Biophys J. 2004 Nov;87(5):3493-503
references: 15347592
references: Biophys J. 1976 Sep;16(9):1055-69
references: 786399
references: Science. 1981 Apr 24;212(4493):443-6
references: 6259734
references: Science. 1991 Apr 5;252(5002):123-6
references: 2011747
references: Cell. 1992 Aug 7;70(3):401-10
references: 1643658
references: J Cell Sci. 1993 Dec;106 ( Pt 4):1005-13
references: 7510298
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Jan 9;93(1):443-6
references: 8552657
references: Curr Biol. 1995 Nov 1;5(11):1280-5
references: 8574585
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Oct 15;93(21):11400-6
references: 8876147
references: Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2006 Feb;18(1):4-10
references: 16343889
references: PLoS Biol. 2006 Feb;4(2):e38
references: 16417406
references: Curr Biol. 2006 Apr 4;16(7):717-22
references: 16581519
references: Development. 2006 Aug;133(16):3075-83
references: 16831833
references: Phys Rev Lett. 2006 Jul 21;97(3):038102
references: 16907546
references: Nat Cell Biol. 2007 Jan;9(1):86-91
references: 17173040
references: Cell. 1998 Oct 2;95(1):81-91
references: 9778249
references: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999 Mar 30;96(7):3739-44
references: 10097107
references: Mol Biol Cell. 1999 Apr;10(4):1163-78
references: 10198064
references: Blood. 2004 Dec 1;104(12):3758-65
references: 15308574
references: Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2005 Feb;8(1):103-12
references: 15653407
references: Dev Cell. 2005 Feb;8(2):215-27
references: 15691763
references: Science. 2000 Oct 13;290(5490):333-7
references: 11030651