Dominguez - Actin Flashcards
Diameters of actin, intermediate filaments, and microtubules
7 nm
9-11 nm
25 nm
Which cytoskeletal filaments are polar?
Actin and microtubules are polar, intermediate filaments are not
Basic subunit of actin and microtubules?
Actin monomer
Tubulin dimer
Arp2/3
7-subunit protein that plays a major role in the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton.
Mutants delay endocytosis
Basic idea is that mutations in critical proteins of the actin cytoskeleton you can disrupt endocytosis
How does salmonella invade?
Contact with host causes host cell to send up actin-rich ruffles that engulf the bacteria. They are trapped inside vacuoles and replicate there.
How does listeria invade?
Bacteria grow and replicate and rocket around (right??)
How does wound healing happen?
Cables of actin run continuously around the wound margin, acting as a purse string to close up the wound.
Where is the dense area of actin in the cell?
At the leading edge.
Lamellipodium versus filopodium
Lamellipodium - branched
Filopodium - bundle
Microvilli
Actin-rich membrane protrusions
Stereocilia
Similar to microvilli but inner ear
Does actin make up thin or thick filaments?
Thin filaments
Globular/G-actin
Monomeric actin
Does actin hydrolyze ATP ?
Yes but it can go for weeks without hydrolyzing it, slow, and affinity for ATP only 3-fold higher than for ADP
When does actin polymerize?
Monomeric at low ionic strength and polymerizes in presence of salt. Upon polymerization ATP gets hydrolyzed to ADP-Pi and Pi is slowly released.
F-actin
Filamentous actin - a double helix of head-to-tail bound actin monomers. Monomers can associate and dissociate only at filament ends.
What is the repeat of the actin double helix?
36 nm, which corresponds to 13 actin subunit.
Pitch per turn is 72 nm.
Which end of actin is more likely to grow?
The plus end
Barbed end of actin
Plus end
Pyrene actin polymerization experiment
Helps us to see transition of monomer to filament. Label the monomer with a probe - pyrene-actin. 10% of actin is labeled. Fluorescence increases 7-10 times upon polymerization. Pyrene label has no significant effect on the polymerization rate constants.