Actin articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Actin and myosin operate at cell–cell junctions during junctional shortening. Here the authors show that prolonged actomyosin contractility can compromise junctional shortening, and that Pak3 is required for attenuation of abnormal active protrusive structure and thus keeps junction contraction, appropriate E-cadherin distribution, and junction shortening in Drosophila.

    • Hiroyuki Uechi
    • , Kazuki Fukushima
    •  & Erina Kuranaga

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical and mechanical cues coordinately regulate angiogenesis. Here, the authors show that blood flow-driven intraluminal pressure regulates wound angiogenesis. Findings indicate that TOCA family of F-BAR proteins act as actin regulators required for endothelial cell migration and sense mechanical cell stretching to regulate wound angiogenesis.

    • Shinya Yuge
    • , Koichi Nishiyama
    •  & Shigetomo Fukuhara

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A common cellular manifestation for diverse kidney diseases is dysregulated actin cytoskeleton in distinct cell types that include glomerular podocytes and tubular epithelial cells. Here, authors pharmacologically activate dynamin and this results in polymerization and crosslinking of actin filaments to establish the structural integrity of these cells, thus ameliorating disease phenotypes.

    • Kamalika Mukherjee
    • , Changkyu Gu
    •  & Sanja Sever

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cellular deformations are largely driven by contractile forces generated by myosin motors in the submembraneous actin cortex. Here we show that these forces are controlled not simply by cortical myosin levels, but rather by myosins spatial arrangement, specifically the extent of their overlap with cortical actin.

    • Binh An Truong Quang
    • , Ruby Peters
    •  & Ewa K. Paluch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Biomechanical mechanisms orchestrating stem cell dynamics in development remain unclear. Here the authors show that guidance receptor Plexin-B2 organizes actomyosin contractility, cytoskeletal tension and adhesion during multicellular development of human embryonic stem cells and neuroprogenitor cells.

    • Chrystian Junqueira Alves
    • , Rafael Dariolli
    •  & Roland H. Friedel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cell migration is essential for many physiological processes. Its deregulation causes cancer metastasis and it is not well understood how it is tightly controlled. We identify NHSL1 as a negative regulator of actin nucleating Scar/WAVE-Arp2/3 complexes, cell protrusion stability, and cell migration.

    • Ah-Lai Law
    • , Shamsinar Jalal
    •  & Matthias Krause

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Actin-based structures in cells and tissues are built and maintained through a poorly understood balance between assembly and disassembly. Here, our findings provide insights into how factors known to promote these opposing effects dynamically integrate to shape cells and tissue systems.

    • Elena E. Grintsevich
    • , Giasuddin Ahmed
    •  & Jonathan R. Terman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cytokinetic ring constriction during cell division requires actin but curiously is independent of myosin in many organisms. Here, the authors show that anillin, a protein enriched in the contractile ring, is a non-motor actin crosslinker that generates contractile force in lieu of a molecular motor.

    • Ondřej Kučera
    • , Valerie Siahaan
    •  & Zdenek Lansky

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Calcium signals initiated by IP3 receptors in ER membranes regulate most cellular activities. Here, the authors show that KRas-induced actininteracting protein (KRAP) tethers a small subset of IP3 receptors to actin and licenses them to evoke cytosolic calcium signals.

    • Nagendra Babu Thillaiappan
    • , Holly A. Smith
    •  & Colin W. Taylor

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sarcomeres, the building blocks of striated muscles, comprise ordered actomyosin arrays involved in force production. Here, the authors visualize sarcomere organization in neonatal cardiomyocytes with in situ cryo-electron tomography, revealing a reduced order of the thin filaments, their sliding and functional states enabling contraction.

    • Laura Burbaum
    • , Jonathan Schneider
    •  & Marion Jasnin

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Non-centrosomal microtubules provide essential functions in many cells, but the mechanisms of their formation are poorly understood. Here, the authors show that during tube formation of the Drosophila salivary glands, microtubules are released from a single active centrosome via katanin, triggering recruitment of Patronin, and leading to formation of a non-centrosomal network key to the tube invagination process.

    • Ghislain Gillard
    • , Gemma Girdler
    •  & Katja Röper

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bacterial pathogens can subvert host cell processes through secreted proteins but the precise mechanisms and repertoire of proteins remains unclear. Here the authors report that a bacterial effector protein of Xanthomonas campestris, XopR, undergoes liquid-liquid phase separation to hijack the host cell actin cytoskeleton.

    • He Sun
    • , Xinlu Zhu
    •  & Yansong Miao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During cell division, the actin cytoskeletal network at both the equatorial contractile ring and cell cortex are known to play a role, but the regulation of γ-actin during cytokinesis is less well understood. Here, the authors show that recruitment of β-actin to the contractile ring and loss of γ-actin from the cell poles is required for completion of cell division.

    • Anan Chen
    • , Luisa Ulloa Severino
    •  & Andrew Wilde

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cytoskeletal networks support and direct cell shape and guide intercellular transport, but relatively little is understood about the self-organization of cytoskeletal components on the scale of an entire cell. Here, authors use an in vitro system and observe the assembly of different types of actin networks and the condensation of membrane-bound actin into single rings.

    • Thomas Litschel
    • , Charlotte F. Kelley
    •  & Petra Schwille

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Uncoupling of mature oocytes from somatic granulosa cells is required for their fertilization. Here the authors show that activation of EGFR signalling in granulosa cells during ovulation triggers ERK-dependent loss of filopodia oocyte adhesion, and Arp2/3 mediated retraction of granulosa cell filopodia.

    • Laleh Abbassi
    • , Stephany El-Hayek
    •  & Hugh J. Clarke

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Actin polymerization provides force for vital processes of the eukaryotic cell, but our understanding of actin dynamics and energetics remains limited due to the lack of high-quality probes. Here authors identify a family of highly sensitive fluorescent nucleotide analogues which bind to actin and provide energy to power actin-based processes.

    • Jessica Colombo
    • , Adrien Antkowiak
    •  & Alphée Michelot

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The cytoplasm in mammalian cells is considered homogeneous. Here authors report that the cytoplasmic fluidity is regulated in the blebbing cells, which is regulated by calcium concentration in the expanding blebs and involves the STIM-Orai1 pathway.

    • Kana Aoki
    • , Shota Harada
    •  & Junichi Ikenouchi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The actin-related protein (Arp)2/3 complex nucleates branched actin filament networks pivotal for cell migration, endocytosis and pathogen infection. Here, authors report a 9.0 Å resolution structure of the actin filament Arp2/3 complex branch junction in cells using cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging.

    • Florian Fäßler
    • , Georgi Dimchev
    •  & Florian K. M. Schur

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The assembly of actin filaments into distinct cytoskeletal structures plays a critical role in cell physiology. Here, the authors use a combination of live cell imaging and in vitro single molecule binding measurements to show that tandem calponin homology domains (CH1–CH2) are sensitive to actin filament conformation, biasing their subcellular localization.

    • Andrew R. Harris
    • , Pamela Jreij
    •  & Daniel A. Fletcher

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Breakdown of vascular barriers is a major complication of inflammatory diseases. However, the mechanisms underlying platelet recruitment to inflammatory micro-environments remains unclear. Here, the authors identify haptotaxis as a key effector function of immune-responsive platelets

    • Leo Nicolai
    • , Karin Schiefelbein
    •  & Florian Gaertner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During lumen formation in blood vessels, endothelial cells become exposed to hemodynamic forces that induce membrane blebbing and changes in cell shape. Here, the authors show endothelial cells develop an actin-based protective mechanism in the cell cortex that prevents excessive blebbing to control cell shape and vessel diameter.

    • Igor Kondrychyn
    • , Douglas J. Kelly
    •  & Li-Kun Phng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Transport of membrane proteins within the cell is thought to mainly rely on microtubule-based transport, but the role of microtubules in neuronal cell recycling of synaptic vesicles is unclear. Here, the authors show that axonal movement of recycling vesicles may be driven not by microtubules but primarily by actin polymerization.

    • Nicolas Chenouard
    • , Feng Xuan
    •  & Richard W. Tsien

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Melanosomes traffic along F-actin in melanocytes. Here, the authors show that Rab27a coordinates SPIRE/FMN actin assembly and MyoVa motor proteins to generate a cell-wide actin/myosin network that links melanosomes and allows the collective activity of these force generators to drive their traffic.

    • Noura Alzahofi
    • , Tobias Welz
    •  & Alistair N. Hume

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Symmetric or asymmetric positioning of intracellular structures such as the nucleus and mitotic spindle steers various biological processes. Here authors use an in vitro model and show that a tug-of-war between centripetal actomyosin waves and percolation of bulk actomyosin network direct the positioning.

    • Ryota Sakamoto
    • , Masatoshi Tanabe
    •  & Makito Miyazaki

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During development, organs undergo large scale forces driven by the cytoskeleton but the precise molecular regulation of cytoskeletal networks remains unclear. Here, the authors report a Cdc42-dependent supracellular cytoskeletal network integrates local actomyosin contraction at tissue scale and drives global tissue elongation.

    • Anna Popkova
    • , Orrin J. Stone
    •  & Xiaobo Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The developmental potential of human and murine oocytes is predicted by their mechanical properties. Here the authors show that artificial reduction of cortex tension produces aneuploid mouse oocytes and speculate that this may contribute to the high aneuploidy rate typical of female meiosis.

    • Isma Bennabi
    • , Flora Crozet
    •  & Marie-Emilie Terret

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Optogenetic approaches to control protein-protein interactions usually require overexpression of the target proteins. Here the authors integrate intrabodies into near-infrared- and blue-light activatable optogenetic tools to control endogenous proteins in mammalian cells.

    • Taras A. Redchuk
    • , Maksim M. Karasev
    •  & Vladislav V. Verkhusha

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Mammalian oocytes divide asymmetrically during meiotic maturation. Here, the authors show that spindle movement away from oocyte center depends on actin filaments nucleated from the spindle periphery pushing against surrounding mitochondria, which polarizes spontaneously to produce directional spindle motion.

    • Xing Duan
    • , Yizeng Li
    •  & Rong Li

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The ultrastructural details of the periodic scaffold of actin rings under the plasma membrane of axons remain unknown. Here, the authors combine platinum-replica electron and optical super-resolution microscopy and resolve actin rings as braids made of two long, intertwined actin filaments connected by a dense mesh of aligned spectrins.

    • Stéphane Vassilopoulos
    • , Solène Gibaud
    •  & Christophe Leterrier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cellular actin networks can be rapidly disassembled and remodeled in a few seconds, yet in vitro actin filaments depolymerize over minutes. Here the authors show that Cyclase-associated protein (CAP) and Cofilin synergize to processively depolymerize actin filament pointed ends 330-fold faster than spontaneous depolymerization.

    • Shashank Shekhar
    • , Johnson Chung
    •  & Bruce L. Goode

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The extracellular cues regulating filamentous actin formation in somatic cell nuclei are unclear. Here, the authors show that activated GPCR signalling initiates transient accumulation of nuclear F-actin/formation in nuclear actin filaments, driven by calcium and requiring the nucleator Formin INF2.

    • Ying Wang
    • , Alice Sherrard
    •  & Robert Grosse

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Podosomes are actin-based protrusions used by cells for invasion and local degradation but the structure underlying their protrusiveness and mechanosensitivity is unclear. Here, the authors report that podosomes have a modular actin nano-architecture whose organization differs on stiff or soft substrates.

    • Koen van den Dries
    • , Leila Nahidiazar
    •  & Alessandra Cambi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Actin and microtubules contribute to successful oocyte maturation, but if and how these two networks communicate in human oocytes is unclear. Here the authors show that actin-microtubule interactions are essential for correct segregation of human nuclear genomic content.

    • Johannes Roeles
    •  & Georgios Tsiavaliaris

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The intermediate filament vimentin reorganizes during mitosis, but its molecular regulation and impact on the cell during cell division is unclear. Here, the authors show that vimentin filaments redistribute to the cell cortex during mitosis intertwining with and affecting actin organization.

    • Sofia Duarte
    • , Álvaro Viedma-Poyatos
    •  & Dolores Pérez-Sala

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Replication of Toxoplasma gondii requires replication and distribution of essential organelles such as micronemes. Here, Periz et al. show that micronemes are recycled from the mother to the forming daughter cells using a highly dynamic F-actin network that supports multidirectional vesicle transport.

    • Javier Periz
    • , Mario Del Rosario
    •  & Markus Meissner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    After autophagic cargo degradation, autolysosomes undergo a reformation process to recycle lysosomal membrane components. Here, Dai et al. demonstrate that the actin nucleation promoting factor WHAMM is required for autolysosome reformation by providing an actin scaffold to drive tubulation.

    • Anbang Dai
    • , Li Yu
    •  & Hong-Wei Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Fiolopodia are involved in cell migration and their attachment to the ECM is mediated by integrin receptors. Here the authors show that myosin X induced filipodia adhesion to fibronectin requires activity of myosin IIA at the filopodium base and formin at the tip to support force transmission through the actin core.

    • N. O. Alieva
    • , A. K. Efremov
    •  & A. D. Bershadsky

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