FHOD1 coordinates actin filament and microtubule alignment to mediate cell elongation

2005 ◽  
Vol 306 (1) ◽  
pp. 192-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith E. Gasteier ◽  
Sebastian Schroeder ◽  
Walter Muranyi ◽  
Ricardo Madrid ◽  
Serge Benichou ◽  
...  
1987 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 981-993 ◽  
Author(s):  
LG Tilney ◽  
Y Fukui ◽  
DJ DeRosier

An actin filament bundle approximately 2-5 microns in length is present in the sperm of the blue mussel, Mytilus. In unfired sperm this bundle extends from the midpiece through a canal in the center of the nucleus to terminate on the membrane limiting the inside of the cone-shaped acrosomal vacuole. The bundle is composed of 45-65 actin filaments which are hexagonally packed and regularly cross-bridged together to form an actin paracrystal so well ordered that it has six nearly equal faces. Upon induction of the acrosomal reaction, a needle-like process is formed in a few seconds. Within this process is the actin filament bundle which appears unchanged in filament number and packing as determined by optical diffraction methods. Using fluorescein-conjugated phalloidin we were able to establish that the bundle does not change length but instead is projected anteriorly out of the midpiece and nuclear canal like an arrow. Existing mechanisms to explain this extension cannot apply. Specifically, the bundle does not increase in length (no polymerization), does not change its organization (no change in actin twist), does not change filament number (no filament sliding), and cannot move by myosin (wrong polarity). Thus we are forced to look elsewhere for a mechanism and have postulated that at least a component of this movement, or cell elongation, is the interaction of the actin filament bundle with the plasma membrane.


Nature ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 508 (7496) ◽  
pp. 392-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bing He ◽  
Konstantin Doubrovinski ◽  
Oleg Polyakov ◽  
Eric Wieschaus

2002 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 641-653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory M. Guild ◽  
Patricia S. Connelly ◽  
Kelly A. Vranich ◽  
Michael K. Shaw ◽  
Lewis G. Tilney

Drosophila bristle cells form enormous extensions that are supported by equally impressive scaffolds of modular, polarized and crosslinked actin filament bundles. As the cell matures and support is taken over by the secreted cuticle, the actin scaffold is completely removed. This removal begins during cell elongation and proceeds via an orderly series of steps that operate on each module. Using confocal and electron microscopy, we found that the ∼500-filament modules are fractured longitudinally into 25-50-filament subbundles, indicating that module breakdown is the reverse of assembly. Time-lapse confocal analysis of GFP-decorated bundles in live cells showed that modules were shortened by subunit removal from filament barbed ends, again indicating that module breakdown is the reverse of assembly. Module shortening takes place at a fairly slow rate of ∼1μm/hour,implying that maximally crosslinked modules are not rapidly depolymerized. Barbed-end depolymerization was prevented with jasplakinolide and accelerated with cycloheximide, indicating that barbed-end maintenance requires continuous protein synthesis. Subbundle adhesion was lost in the presence of cytochalasin, indicating that continuous actin polymerization is required. Thus, these polarized actin filament bundles are dynamic structures that require continuous maintenance owing to protein and actin filament turnover. We propose that after cell elongation, maintenance falls behind turnover,resulting in the removal of this modular cytoskeleton.


Author(s):  
P.R. Smith ◽  
W.E. Fowler ◽  
U. Aebi

An understanding of the specific interactions of actin with regulatory proteins has been limited by the lack of information about the structure of the actin filament. Molecular actin has been studied in actin-DNase I complexes by single crystal X-ray analysis, to a resolution of about 0.6nm, and in the electron microscope where two dimensional actin sheets have been reconstructed to a maximum resolution of 1.5nm. While these studies have shown something of the structure of individual actin molecules, essential information about the orientation of actin in the filament is still unavailable.The work of Egelman & DeRosier has, however, suggested a method which could be used to provide an initial quantitative estimate of the orientation of actin within the filament. This method involves the quantitative comparison of computed diffraction data from single actin filaments with diffraction data derived from synthetic filaments constructed using the molecular model of actin as a building block. Their preliminary work was conducted using a model consisting of two juxtaposed spheres of equal size.


Author(s):  
W. J. Larsen ◽  
R. Azarnia ◽  
W. R. Loewenstein

Although the physiological significance of the gap junction remains unspecified, these membrane specializations are now recognized as common to almost all normal cells (excluding adult striated muscle and some nerve cells) and are found in organisms ranging from the coelenterates to man. Since it appears likely that these structures mediate the cell-to-cell movement of ions and small dye molecules in some electrical tissues, we undertook this study with the objective of determining whether gap junctions in inexcitable tissues also mediate cell-to-cell coupling.To test this hypothesis, a coupling, human Lesh-Nyhan (LN) cell was fused with a non-coupling, mouse cl-1D cell, and the hybrids, revertants, and parental cells were analysed for coupling with respect both to ions and fluorescein and for membrane junctions with the freeze fracture technique.


Author(s):  
U. Aebi ◽  
R. Millonig ◽  
H. Salvo

To date, most 3-D reconstructions of undecorated actin filaments have been obtained from actin filament paracrystal data (for refs, see 1,2). However, due to the fact that (a) the paracrystals may be several filament layers thick, and (b) adjacent filaments may sustantially interdigitate, these reconstructions may be subject to significant artifacts. None of these reconstructions has permitted unambiguous tracing or orientation of the actin subunits within the filament. Furthermore, measured values for the maximal filament diameter both determined by EM and by X-ray diffraction analysis, vary between 6 and 10 nm. Obviously, the apparent diameter of the actin filament revealed in the EM will critically depend on specimen preparation, since it is a rather flexible supramolecular assembly which can easily be bent or distorted. To resolve some of these ambiguities, we have explored specimen preparation conditions which may preserve single filaments sufficiently straight and helically ordered to be suitable for single filament 3-D reconstructions, possibly revealing molecular detail.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document