BACKGROUND
The dynamic actin cytoskeleton plays an important role in clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). However, its exact functions remain uncertain as a result of a lack of high-resolution… (More)
Fascin is the main actin filament bundling protein in filopodia. Because of the important role filopodia play in cell migration, fascin is emerging as a major target for cancer drug discovery.… (More)
Srv2/CAP is a conserved actin-binding protein with important roles in driving cellular actin dynamics in diverse animal, fungal, and plant species. However, there have been conflicting reports about… (More)
The mechanisms by which cells destabilize and rapidly disassemble filamentous actin networks have remained elusive; however, Coronin, Cofilin and AIP1 have been implicated in this process. Here using… (More)
Purified actin filaments depolymerize slowly, and cytosolic conditions strongly favour actin assembly over disassembly, which has left our understanding of how actin filaments are rapidly turned over… (More)
Polyphosphoinositides (PPIs) and in particular phosphatidylinositol-(4,5)-bisphosphate (PI4,5P2), control many cellular events and bind with variable levels of specificity to hundreds of… (More)
Filopodia are slender cellular protrusions that dynamically extend and retract to facilitate directional cell migration, pathogen sensing, and cell-cell adhesion. Each filopodium contains a rigid and… (More)
We have previously reported that actin undergoes a conformational transition (which we named "maturation") during polymerization, and that the actin-binding protein, caldesmon (CaD), when added at an… (More)
Branched actin filament networks in cells are assembled through the combined activities of Arp2/3 complex and different WASP/WAVE proteins. Here we used TIRF and electron microscopy to directly… (More)