Recycling of the actin monomer pool limits the lifetime of network turnover

Intracellular organization is largely mediated by actin turnover. Cellular actin networks continuously assemble and disassemble, while maintaining their overall appearance. This behavior, called "dynamic steady state," allows cells to sense and adapt to their environment. However, how structural stability can be maintained during the constant turnover of a limited actin monomer pool is poorly understood. To answer this question, we developed an experimental system where polystyrene beads are propelled by an actin comet in a microwell containing a limited amount of components. We used the speed and the size of the actin comet tails to evaluate the system's monomer consumption and its lifetime. We established the relative contribution of actin assembly, disassembly, and recycling for a bead movement over tens of hours. Recycling mediated by cyclase-associated protein (CAP) is the key step in allowing the reuse of monomers for multiple assembly cycles. ATP supply and protein aging are also factors that limit the lifetime of actin turnover. This work reveals the balancing mechanism for long-term network assembly with a limited amount of building blocks.

Functional non-equivalence of pollen ADF isovariants in Arabidopsis

ADF/cofilin is a central regulator of actin dynamics. We previously demonstrated that two closely related Arabidopsis class IIa ADF isovariants, ADF7 and ADF10, are involved in the enhancement of actin turnover in pollen, but whether they have distinct functions remains unknown. Here, we further demonstrate that they exhibit distinct functions in regulating actin turnover both in vitro and in vivo. We found that ADF7 binds to ADP-G-actin with lower affinity, and severs and depolymerizes actin filaments less efficiently in vitro than ADF10. Accordingly, in pollen grains, ADF7 more extensively decorates actin filaments and is less freely distributed in the cytoplasm compared to ADF10. We further demonstrate that ADF7 and ADF10 show distinct intracellular localizations during pollen germination, and they have non-equivalent functions in promoting actin turnover in pollen. We thus propose that cooperation and labor division of ADF7 and ADF10 enable pollen cells to achieve exquisite control of the turnover of different actin structures to meet different cellular needs.

Macropinocytosis-mediated membrane recycling drives neural crest migration by delivering F-actin to the lamellipodium

Membrane and cytoskeletal dynamics are critical to cell motility. Extensively studied in cell culture, their roles in cell movement in vivo are less understood, especially in higher vertebrates. We use dynamic imaging to visualize membrane and cytoskeletal behavior in migrating neural crest cells in living tissue. We found that forward movement of individual neural crest cells is accompanied by circular membrane flow, from anterior-to-posterior apically and posterior-to-anterior basally, coupled with internalization of lipid vesicles via macropinocytosis in the soma. Macropinosomes become wrapped with actin, then undergo anterograde translocation via microtubules toward the lamellipodium, resulting in its expansion. We elucidate how actin dynamics and membrane flow are interacted to drive forward locomotion of individual cells.

Individual cell migration requires front-to-back polarity manifested by lamellipodial extension. At present, it remains debated whether and how membrane motility mediates this cell morphological change. To gain insights into these processes, we perform live imaging and molecular perturbation of migrating chick neural crest cells in vivo. Our results reveal an endocytic loop formed by circular membrane flow and anterograde movement of lipid vesicles, resulting in cell polarization and locomotion. Rather than clathrin-mediated endocytosis, macropinosomes encapsulate F-actin in the cell body, forming vesicles that translocate via microtubules to deliver actin to the anterior. In addition to previously proposed local conversion of actin monomers to polymers, we demonstrate a surprising role for shuttling of F-actin across cells for lamellipodial expansion. Thus, the membrane and cytoskeleton act in concert in distinct subcellular compartments to drive forward cell migration.

Actin cytoskeleton dynamics during mucosal inflammation: a view from broken epithelial barriers

Disruption of epithelial barriers is a key pathogenic event of mucosal inflammation: It ignites the exaggerated immune response and accelerates tissue damage. Loss of barrier function is attributed to the abnormal structure and permeability of epithelial adherens junctions and tight junctions, driven by inflammatory stimuli through a variety of cellular mechanisms. This review focuses on roles of the actin cytoskeleton in mediating disruption of epithelial junctions and creation of leaky barriers in inflamed tissues. We summarize recent advances in understanding the role of cytoskeletal remodeling driven by actin filament turnover and myosin II-dependent contractility in the homeostatic regulation of epithelial barriers and barrier disruption during mucosal inflammation. We also discuss how the altered biochemical and physical environment of the inflamed tissues could affect the dynamics of the junction-associated actomyosin cytoskeleton, leading to the disruption of epithelial barriers.

Assembly and Maintenance of Sarcomere Thin Filaments and Associated Diseases

Sarcomere assembly and maintenance are essential physiological processes required for cardiac and skeletal muscle function and organism mobility. Over decades of research, components of the sarcomere and factors involved in the formation and maintenance of this contractile unit have been identified. Although we have a general understanding of sarcomere assembly and maintenance, much less is known about the development of the thin filaments and associated factors within the sarcomere. In the last decade, advancements in medical intervention and genome sequencing have uncovered patients with novel mutations in sarcomere thin filaments. Pairing this sequencing with reverse genetics and the ability to generate patient avatars in model organisms has begun to deepen our understanding of sarcomere thin filament development. In this review, we provide a summary of recent findings regarding sarcomere assembly, maintenance, and disease with respect to thin filaments, building on the previous knowledge in the field. We highlight debated and unknown areas within these processes to clearly define open research questions.

Dynamic motions of molecular motors in the actin cytoskeleton

During intracellular transport, cellular cargos, such as organelles, vesicles, and proteins, are transported within cells. Intracellular transport plays an important role in diverse cellular functions. Molecular motors walking on the cytoskeleton facilitate active intracellular transport, which is more efficient than diffusion-based passive transport. Active transport driven by kinesin and dynein walking on microtubules has been studied well during recent decades. However, mechanisms of active transport occurring in disorganized actin networks via myosin motors remain elusive. To provide physiologically relevant insights, we probed motions of myosin motors in actin networks under various conditions using our well-established computational model that rigorously accounts for the mechanical and dynamical behaviors of the actin cytoskeleton. We demonstrated that myosin motions can be confined due to three different reasons in the absence of F-actin turnover. We verified mechanisms of motor stalling using in vitro reconstituted actomyosin networks. We also found that with F-actin turnover, motors consistently move for a long time without significant confinement. Our study sheds light on the importance of F-actin turnover for effective active transport in the actin cytoskeleton.

Arabidopsis AIP1-1 regulates the organization of apical actin filaments by promoting their turnover in pollen tubes

Apical actin filaments are highly dynamic structures that are crucial for rapid pollen tube growth, but the mechanisms regulating their dynamics and spatial organization remain incompletely understood. We here identify that AtAIP1-1 is important for regulating the turnover and organization of apical actin filaments in pollen tubes. AtAIP1-1 is distributed uniformly in the pollen tube and loss of function of AtAIP1-1 affects the organization of the actin cytoskeleton in the pollen tube. Specifically, actin filaments became disorganized within the apical region of aip1-1 pollen tubes. Consistent with the role of apical actin filaments in spatially restricting vesicles in pollen tubes, the apical region occupied by vesicles becomes enlarged in aip1-1 pollen tubes compared to WT. Using ADF1 as a representative actin-depolymerizing factor, we demonstrate that AtAIP1-1 enhances ADF1-mediated actin depolymerization and filament severing in vitro, although AtAIP1-1 alone does not have an obvious effect on actin assembly and disassembly. The dynamics of apical actin filaments are reduced in aip1-1 pollen tubes compared to WT. Our study suggests that AtAIP1-1 works together with ADF to act as a module in regulating the dynamics of apical actin filaments to facilitate the construction of the unique "apical actin structure" in the pollen tube.

Actin Turnover in Lamellipodial Fragments

Actin turnover is the central driving force underlying lamellipodial motility. The molecular components involved are largely known, and their properties have been studied extensively in vitro. However, a comprehensive picture of actin turnover in vivo is still missing. We focus on fragments from fish epithelial keratocytes, which are essentially stand-alone motile lamellipodia. The geometric simplicity of the fragments and the absence of additional actin structures allow us to characterize the spatiotemporal lamellipodial actin organization with unprecedented detail. We use fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, and extraction experiments to show that about two-thirds of the lamellipodial actin diffuses in the cytoplasm with nearly uniform density, whereas the rest forms the treadmilling polymer network. Roughly a quarter of the diffusible actin pool is in filamentous form as diffusing oligomers, indicating that severing and debranching are important steps in the disassembly process generating oligomers as intermediates. The remaining diffusible actin concentration is orders of magnitude higher than the in vitro actin monomer concentration required to support the observed polymerization rates, implying that the majority of monomers are transiently kept in a non-polymerizable "reserve" pool. The actin network disassembles and reassembles throughout the lamellipodium within seconds, so the lamellipodial network turnover is local. The diffusible actin transport, on the other hand, is global: actin subunits typically diffuse across the entire lamellipodium before reassembling into the network. This combination of local network turnover and global transport of dissociated subunits through the cytoplasm makes actin transport robust yet rapidly adaptable and amenable to regulation.

Angiotensin II regulates phosphorylation of actin-associated proteins in human podocytes

Within the kidney, angiotensin II (AngII) targets different cell types in the vasculature, tubuli, and glomeruli. An important part of the renal filtration barrier is composed of podocytes with their actin-rich foot processes. In this study, we used stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture coupled to mass spectrometry to characterize relative changes in the phosphoproteome of human podocytes in response to short-term treatment with AngII. In 4 replicates, we identified a total of 17,956 peptides that were traceable to 2081 distinct proteins. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that among the increasingly phosphorylated peptides are predominantly peptides that are related to actin filaments, cytoskeleton, lamellipodia, mammalian target of rapamycin, and MAPK signaling. Among others, this screening approach highlighted the increased phosphorylation of actin-bundling protein, l-plastin (LCP1). AngII-dependent phosphorylation of LCP1 in cultured podocytes was mediated by the kinases ERK, p90 ribosomal S6 kinase, PKA, or PKC. LCP1 phosphorylation increased filopodia formation. In addition, treatment with AngII led to LCP1 redistribution to the cell margins, membrane ruffling, and formation of lamellipodia. Our data highlight the importance of AngII-triggered actin cytoskeleton-associated signal transduction in podocytes.-Schenk, L. K., Möller-Kerutt, A., Klosowski, R., Wolters, D., Schaffner-Reckinger, E., Weide, T., Pavenstädt, H., Vollenbröker, B. Angiotensin II regulates phosphorylation of actin-associated proteins in human podocytes.

Lim kinase, a bi-functional effector in injury-induced structural plasticity of synapses

The structural plasticity of synaptic terminals contributes to normal nervous system function but also to neural degeneration, in the form of terminal retraction, and regeneration, due to process growth. Synaptic morphological change is mediated through the actin cytoskeleton, which is enriched in axonal and dendritic terminals. Whereas the three RhoGTPases, RhoA, Cdc42 and Rac, function as upstream signaling nodes sensitive to extracellular stimuli, LIMK-cofilin activity serves as a common downstream effector to up-regulate actin turnover, which is necessary for both polymerization and depolymerization. The dual effects of LIMK activity make LIMK a potential target of therapeutic intervention for injury-induced synaptic plasticity, as LIMK inhibition can stabilize actin cytoskeleton and preserve existing structure. This therapeutic benefit of LIMK inhibition has been demonstrated in animal models of injury-induced axon retraction and neuritic sprouting by rod photoreceptors. A better understanding of the regulation of LIMK-cofilin activity and the interaction with the microtubular cytoskeleton may open new ways to promote synaptic regeneration that can benefit neuronal degenerative disease.

Actin-interacting Protein 1 Promotes Disassembly of Actin-depolymerizing Factor/Cofilin-bound Actin Filaments in a pH-dependent Manner

Actin-interacting protein 1 (AIP1) is a conserved WD repeat protein that promotes disassembly of actin filaments when actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF)/cofilin is present. Although AIP1 is known to be essential for a number of cellular events involving dynamic rearrangement of the actin cytoskeleton, the regulatory mechanism of the function of AIP1 is unknown. In this study, we report that two AIP1 isoforms from the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, known as UNC-78 and AIPL-1, are pH-sensitive in enhancement of actin filament disassembly. Both AIP1 isoforms only weakly enhance disassembly of ADF/cofilin-bound actin filaments at an acidic pH but show stronger disassembly activity at neutral and basic pH values. However, a severing-defective mutant of UNC-78 shows pH-insensitive binding to ADF/cofilin-decorated actin filaments, suggesting that the process of filament severing or disassembly, but not filament binding, is pH-dependent. His-60 of AIP1 is located near the predicted binding surface for the ADF/cofilin-actin complex, and an H60K mutation of AIP1 partially impairs its pH sensitivity, suggesting that His-60 is involved in the pH sensor for AIP1. These biochemical results suggest that pH-dependent changes in AIP1 activity might be a novel regulatory mechanism of actin filament dynamics.

Arabidopsis ACT11 modifies actin turnover to promote pollen germination and maintain the normal rate of tube growth

Actin is an ancient conserved protein that is encoded by multiple isovariants in multicellular organisms. There are eight functional actin genes in the Arabidopsis genome, and the precise function and mechanism of action of each isovariant remain poorly understood. Here, we report the characterization of ACT11, a reproductive actin isovariant. Our studies reveal that loss of function of ACT11 causes a delay in pollen germination, but enhances pollen tube growth. Cytological analysis revealed that the amount of filamentous actin decreased, and the rate of actin turnover increased in act11 pollen. Convergence of actin filaments upon the germination aperture was impaired in act11 pollen, consistent with the observed delay of germination. Reduction of actin dynamics with jasplakinolide suppressed the germination and tube growth phenotypes in act11 pollen, suggesting that the underlying mechanisms involve an increase in actin dynamics. Thus, we demonstrate that ACT11 is required to maintain the rate of actin turnover in order to promote pollen germination and maintain the normal rate of pollen tube growth.

Actin-interacting protein 1 controls assembly and permeability of intestinal epithelial apical junctions

Adherens junctions (AJs) and tight junctions (TJs) are crucial regulators of the integrity and restitution of the intestinal epithelial barrier. The structure and function of epithelial junctions depend on their association with the cortical actin cytoskeleton that, in polarized epithelial cells, is represented by a prominent perijunctional actomyosin belt. The assembly and stability of the perijunctional cytoskeleton is controlled by constant turnover (disassembly and reassembly) of actin filaments. Actin-interacting protein (Aip) 1 is an emerging regulator of the actin cytoskeleton, playing a critical role in filament disassembly. In this study, we examined the roles of Aip1 in regulating the structure and remodeling of AJs and TJs in human intestinal epithelium. Aip1 was enriched at apical junctions in polarized human intestinal epithelial cells and normal mouse colonic mucosa. Knockdown of Aip1 by RNA interference increased the paracellular permeability of epithelial cell monolayers, decreased recruitment of AJ/TJ proteins to steady-state intercellular contacts, and attenuated junctional reassembly in a calcium-switch model. The observed defects of AJ/TJ structure and functions were accompanied by abnormal organization and dynamics of the perijunctional F-actin cytoskeleton. Moreover, loss of Aip1 impaired the apico-basal polarity of intestinal epithelial cell monolayers and inhibited formation of polarized epithelial cysts in 3-D Matrigel. Our findings demonstrate a previously unanticipated role of Aip1 in regulating the structure and remodeling of intestinal epithelial junctions and early steps of epithelial morphogenesis.

Dynamics of Bio-Polymeric Brushes Growing from a Cellular Membrane: Tentative Modelling of the Actin Turnover within an Adhesion Unit; the Podosome

Podosomes are involved in the adhesion process of various cells to a solid substrate. They have been proven to consist of a dense actin core surrounded by an actin cloud. The podosomes, which nucleate when the cell comes in the vicinity of a substrate, contribute to link the membrane to the solid surface, but rather than frozen links, collective dynamical behaviors are experimentally observed. Depending on the differentiation stage, podosomes assemble and form clusters, rings or belts. Considering the dynamics of a polymeric brush, we design a simple model aiming at the description of a single podosome, the basic unit of these complex adhesion-structures and compare our theoretical conclusions to recent experimental results. Particularly, we explain, by solving the diffusion problem around the podosome, why the structure is likely to have a finite life-span.

Dynamic regulation of sarcomeric actin filaments in striated muscle

In striated muscle, the actin cytoskeleton is differentiated into myofibrils. Actin and myosin filaments are organized in sarcomeres and specialized for producing contractile forces. Regular arrangement of actin filaments with uniform length and polarity is critical for the contractile function. However, the mechanisms of assembly and maintenance of sarcomeric actin filaments in striated muscle are not completely understood. Live imaging of actin in striated muscle has revealed that actin subunits within sarcomeric actin filaments are dynamically exchanged without altering overall sarcomeric structures. A number of regulators for actin dynamics have been identified, and malfunction of these regulators often result in disorganization of myofibril structures or muscle diseases. Therefore, proper regulation of actin dynamics in striated muscle is critical for assembly and maintenance of functional myofibrils. Recent studies have suggested that both enhancers of actin dynamics and stabilizers of actin filaments are important for sarcomeric actin organization. Further investigation of the regulatory mechanism of actin dynamics in striated muscle should be a key to understanding how myofibrils develop and operate.

Inside view of cell locomotion through single-molecule: fast F-/G-actin cycle and G-actin regulation of polymer restoration

The actin cytoskeleton drives cell locomotion and tissue remodeling. The invention of live-cell fluorescence single-molecule imaging opened a window for direct viewing of the actin remodeling processes in the cell. Since then, a number of unanticipated molecular functions have been revealed. One is the mechanism of F-actin network breakdown. In lamellipodia, one third of newly polymerized F-actin disassembles within 10 seconds. This fast F-actin turnover is facilitated by the filament severing/disrupting activity involving cofilin and AIP1. Astoundingly fast dissociation kinetics of the barbed end interactors including capping protein suggests that F-actin turnover might proceed through repetitive disruption/reassembly of the filament near the barbed end. The picture of actin polymerization is also being revealed. At the leading edge of the cell, Arp2/3 complex is highly activated in a narrow edge region. In contrast, mDia1 and its related Formin homology proteins display a long-distance directional molecular movement using their processive actin capping ability. Recently, these two independently-developed projects converged into a discovery of the spatiotemporal coupling between mDia1-mediated filament nucleation and actin disassembly. Presumably, the local concentration fluctuation of G-actin regulates the actin nucleation efficiency of specific actin nucleators including mDia1. Pharmacological perturbation and quantitative molecular behavior analysis synergize to reveal hidden molecular linkages in the actin turnover cycle and cell signaling.