Three-dimensional reconstructions of actin filaments capped by Arp2/3 complex

Nucleation, stabilization, and disassembly of branched actin networks

Arp2/3 complex is an actin filament nucleation and branching machinery conserved in all eukaryotes from yeast to human. Arp2/3 complex branched networks generate pushing forces that drive cellular processes ranging from membrane remodeling to cell and organelle motility. Several molecules regulate these processes by directly inhibiting or activating Arp2/3 complex and by stabilizing or disassembling branched networks. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of Arp2/3 complex regulation, including high-resolution cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures that illuminate the mechanisms of Arp2/3 complex activation and branch formation, and novel cellular pathways of branch formation, stabilization, and debranching. We also identify major gaps in our understanding of Arp2/3 complex inhibition and branch stabilization and disassembly.

Early nucleation events in the polymerization of actin, probed by time-resolved small-angle x-ray scattering

Nucleators generating new F-actin filaments play important roles in cell activities. Detailed information concerning the events involved in nucleation of actin alone in vitro is fundamental to understanding these processes, but such information has been hard to come by. We addressed the early process of salt-induced polymerization of actin using the time-resolved synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Actin molecules in low salt solution maintain a monomeric state by an electrostatic repulsive force between molecules. On mixing with salts, the repulsive force was rapidly screened, causing an immediate formation of many of non-polymerizable dimers. SAXS kinetic analysis revealed that tetramerization gives the highest energetic barrier to further polymerization, and the major nucleation is the formation of helical tetramers. Filaments start to grow rapidly with the formation of pentamers. These findings suggest an acceleration mechanism of actin assembly by a variety of nucleators in cells.

Mechanosensitive kinetic preference of actin-binding protein to actin filament

The kinetic preference of actin-binding proteins to actin filaments is altered by external forces on the filament. Such an altered kinetic preference is largely responsible for remodeling the actin cytoskeletal structure in response to intracellular forces. During remodeling, actin-binding proteins and actin filaments interact under isothermal conditions, because the cells are homeostatic. In such a temperature homeostatic state, we can rigorously and thermodynamically link the chemical potential of actin-binding proteins to stresses on the actin filaments. From this relationship, we can construct a physical model that explains the force-dependent kinetic preference of actin-binding proteins to actin filaments. To confirm the model, we have analyzed the mechanosensitive alternation of the kinetic preference of Arp2/3 and cofilin to actin filaments. We show that this model captures the qualitative responses of these actin-binding proteins to the forces, as observed experimentally. Moreover, our theoretical results demonstrate that, depending on the structural parameters of the binding region, actin-binding proteins can show different kinetic responses even to the same mechanical signal tension, in which the double-helix nature of the actin filament also plays a critical role in a stretch-twist coupling of the filament.

Arp2/3 complex and cofilin modulate binding of tropomyosin to branched actin networks

Tropomyosins are coiled-coil proteins that bind actin filaments and regulate multiple cytoskeletal functions, including actin network dynamics near the leading edge of motile cells. Previous work demonstrated that tropomyosins inhibit actin nucleation by the Arp2/3 complex and prevent filament disassembly by cofilin. We find that the Arp2/3 complex and cofilin, in turn, regulate the binding of tropomyosin to actin filaments. Using fluorescence microscopy, we show that tropomyosin (non-muscle Drosophila Tm1A) polymerizes along actin filaments, starting from "nuclei" that appear preferentially on ADP-bound regions of the filament, near the pointed end. Tropomyosin fails to bind dendritic actin networks created in vitro by the Arp2/3 complex, in part because the Arp2/3 complex blocks pointed ends. Cofilin promotes phosphate dissociation and severs filaments, generating new pointed ends and rendering Arp2/3-generated networks competent to bind tropomyosin. Tropomyosin's attraction to pointed ends reflects a strong preference for conformations localized to that region of the filament and reveals a basic molecular mechanism by which lamellipodial actin networks are insulated from the effects of tropomyosin.