Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Cell motility

Bare bones of the cytoskeleton

Nature volume 401, pages 542–543 (1999)Cite this article

Movement is a fundamental feature of living organisms and, on a molecular level, the mechanism of cell movement is highly complex. So it comes as an exciting surprise that Carlier and colleagues (page 613 of this issue1) have dissected out a handful of proteins essential for reconstituting the motility of a bacterial propulsion system. The system concerned normally involves bacterial subversion of a host cell's own cytoskeletal machinery.

Cells adopt specialized shapes, change their shape and move around in response to various cues. In multicellular organisms, cell motility is essential for normal development and differentiation, as well as the response to disease. Cell shape and movement largely depend on actin, energy derived from the nucleotide ATP, and a host of other proteins associated with actin. Actin subunits spontaneously polymerize into filaments, which provide structural support and regulate the viscoelasticity and porosity of the cytoplasm; and polymerization of actin filaments is the driving force for extension of cell processes such as lamellipodia and filopodia. Adhesion and contraction also contribute to cell motility.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Propulsion of Listeria inside a cell, as reconstituted by Carlier and colleagues1.

References

  1. Loisel, T. P., Boujemaa, R., Pantaloni, D. & Carlier, M. F. Nature 401 613–616 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Dramsi, S. & Cossart, P. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 14, 137–166 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Machesky, L. M., Atkinson, S. J., Ampe, C., Vandekerckhove, J. & Pollard, T. D. J. Cell Biol. 127, 107–115 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Welch, M. D., DePace, A. H., Verma, S., Iwamatsu, A. & Mitchison, T. J. J. Cell Biol. 138, 375–384 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Welch, M. D., Rosenblatt, J., Skoble, J., Portnoy, D. A. & Mitchison, T. J. Science 281, 105–108 (1998).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Mullins, R. D., Heuser, J. A. & Pollard, T. D. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 95, 6181–6186 (1998).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Carlier, M.-F. & Pantaloni, D. J. Mol. Biol. 269, 459–467 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Carlier, M.-F. et al. J. Cell Biol. 136, 1307–1322 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Maciver, S. K., Pope, B. J., Whytock, S. & Weeds, A. G. Eur. J. Biochem. 256, 388–397 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Blanchoin, L. & Pollard, T. D. J. Biol. Chem. 274, 15538–15546 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Machesky, L. M. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 96, 3739–3744 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Pantaloni, D. & Carlier, M. F. Cell 75, 1007–1014 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Chakraborty, T. et al. EMBO J. 14, 1314–1321 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Egile, C. et al. J. Cell Biol. 146, 1–14 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Laurent, V. et al. J. Cell Biol. 144, 1245–1258 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Dold, F. G., Sanger, J. M. & Sanger, J. W. Cell. Motil. Cytoskeleton 28, 97–107 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular Cell Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    Laura M. Machesky

  2. Department of Cell Biology, Washington University, St Louis, 63110, Missouri, USA

    John A. Cooper

Authors
  1. Laura M. Machesky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John A. Cooper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Machesky, L., Cooper, J. Bare bones of the cytoskeleton. Nature 401, 542–543 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/44044

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/44044

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing