scholarly journals Mechanism of actin polymerization revealed by cryo-EM structures of actin filaments with three different bound nucleotides

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Z. Chou ◽  
Thomas D. Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Active Site ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Actin Polymerization ◽  
Atp Hydrolysis ◽  
Regulatory Proteins ◽  
Actin Assembly ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy ◽  
Pointed End ◽  
Binding Loop

AbstractWe used electron cryo-micrographs to reconstruct actin filaments with bound AMPPNP (β,γ-imidoadenosine 5’-triphosphate, an ATP analog), ADP-Pi (ADP with inorganic phosphate) or ADP to resolutions of 3.4 Å, 3.4 Å and 3.6 Å. Subunits in the three filaments have nearly identical backbone conformations, so assembly rather than ATP hydrolysis or phosphate dissociation is responsible for their flattened conformation in filaments. Polymerization increases the rate of ATP hydrolysis by changing the conformations of the three ATP phosphates and the side chains of Gln137 and His161 in the active site. Flattening also promotes interactions along both the long-pitch and short-pitch helices. In particular, conformational changes in subdomain 3 open up favorable interactions with the DNase-I binding loop in subdomain 2 of the adjacent subunit. Subunits at the barbed end of the filament are likely to be in this favorable conformation, while monomers are not. This difference explains why filaments grow faster at the barbed end than the pointed end. Loss of hydrogen bonds after phosphate dissociation may account for the greater flexibility of ADP-actin filaments.Significance StatementActin filaments comprise a major part of the cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells and serve as tracks for myosin motor proteins. The filaments assemble from actin monomers with a bound ATP. After polymerization, actin rapidly hydrolyzes the bound ATP and slowly dissociates the γ-phosphate. ADP-actin filaments then disassemble to recycle the subunits. Understanding how actin filaments assemble, disassemble and interact with numerous regulatory proteins depends on knowing the structure of the filament. High quality structures of ADP-actin filaments were available, but not of filaments with bound ATP- or with ADP and phosphate. We determined structures of actin filaments with bound AMPPNP (a slowly hydrolyzed ATP analog), ADP and phosphate and ADP by cryo-electron microscopy. These structures show how conformational changes during actin assembly promote ATP hydrolysis and faster growth at one end of the filament than the other.

scholarly journals Mechanism of actin polymerization revealed by cryo-EM structures of actin filaments with three different bound nucleotides

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (10) ◽  
pp. 4265-4274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Z. Chou ◽  
Thomas D. Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Active Site ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Actin Polymerization ◽  
Atp Hydrolysis ◽  
Release Site ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy ◽  
C Terminus ◽  
Pointed End ◽  
Binding Loop

We used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to reconstruct actin filaments with bound AMPPNP (β,γ-imidoadenosine 5′-triphosphate, an ATP analog, resolution 3.1 Å), ADP-Pi(ADP with inorganic phosphate, resolution 3.1 Å), or ADP (resolution 3.6 Å). Subunits in the three filaments have similar backbone conformations, so assembly rather than ATP hydrolysis or phosphate dissociation is responsible for their flattened conformation in filaments. Polymerization increases the rate of ATP hydrolysis by changing the positions of the side chains of Q137 and H161 in the active site. Flattening during assembly also promotes interactions along both the long-pitch and short-pitch helices. In particular, conformational changes in subdomain 3 open up multiple favorable interactions with the DNase-I binding loop in subdomain 2 of the adjacent subunit. Subunits at the barbed end of the filament are likely to be in this favorable conformation, while monomers are not. This difference explains why filaments grow faster at the barbed end than the pointed end. When phosphate dissociates from ADP-Pi-actin through a backdoor channel, the conformation of the C terminus changes so it distorts the DNase binding loop, which allows cofilin binding, and a network of interactions among S14, H73, G74, N111, R177, and G158 rearranges to open the phosphate release site.

scholarly journals Cryo-electron microscopy structures of pyrene-labeled ADP-Pi- and ADP-actin filaments

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Z. Chou ◽  
Thomas D. Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Active Site ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Actin Polymerization ◽  
Actin Binding ◽  
Muscle Actin ◽  
Hydrophobic Cavity ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy ◽  
Kinetics Of

AbstractSince the fluorescent reagent N-(1-pyrene)iodoacetamide was first used to label skeletal muscle actin in 1981, the pyrene-labeled actin has become the most widely employed tool to measure the kinetics of actin polymerization and the interaction between actin and actin-binding proteins. Here we report high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structures of actin filaments with N-1-pyrene conjugated to cysteine 374 and either ADP (3.2 Å) or ADP-phosphate (3.0 Å) in the active site. Polymerization buries pyrene in a hydrophobic cavity between subunits along the long-pitch helix with only minor differences in conformation compared with native actin filaments. These structures explain how polymerization increases the fluorescence 20-fold, how myosin and cofilin binding to filaments reduces the fluorescence, and how profilin binding to actin monomers increases the fluorescence.

The actin treadmill

1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 414-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Wanger ◽  
Thomas Keiser ◽  
Jean-Marc Neuhaus ◽  
Albrecht Wegner
Keyword(s):  
Adenosine Triphosphate ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Actin Polymerization ◽  
Actin Assembly ◽  
Tight Coupling ◽  
Pointed End

Actin filaments can assemble at the barbed end and disassemble simultaneously at the pointed end. Prerequisites for this treadmilling reaction are the structural polarity of actin filaments and tight coupling of the actin assembly reaction and the adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis occurring during actin polymerization. In this article, investigations on the actin treadmill are reviewed.

scholarly journals Structures of cofilin-induced structural changes reveal local and asymmetric perturbations of actin filaments

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 1478-1484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Huehn ◽  
Jeffrey P. Bibeau ◽  
Anthony C. Schramm ◽  
Wenxiang Cao ◽  
Enrique M. De La Cruz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Structural Data ◽  
Binding Mode ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy ◽  
Actin Structure ◽  
Cluster A ◽  
Pointed End ◽  
Single Subunit

Members of the cofilin/ADF family of proteins sever actin filaments, increasing the number of filament ends available for polymerization or depolymerization. Cofilin binds actin filaments with positive cooperativity, forming clusters of contiguously bound cofilin along the filament lattice. Filament severing occurs preferentially at boundaries between bare and cofilin-decorated (cofilactin) segments and is biased at 1 side of a cluster. A molecular understanding of cooperative binding and filament severing has been impeded by a lack of structural data describing boundaries. Here, we apply methods for analyzing filament cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) data at the single subunit level to directly investigate the structure of boundaries within partially decorated cofilactin filaments. Subnanometer resolution maps of isolated, bound cofilin molecules and an actin-cofilactin boundary indicate that cofilin-induced actin conformational changes are local and limited to subunits directly contacting bound cofilin. An isolated, bound cofilin compromises longitudinal filament contacts of 1 protofilament, consistent with a single cofilin having filament-severing activity. An individual, bound phosphomimetic (S3D) cofilin with weak severing activity adopts a unique binding mode that does not perturb actin structure. Cofilin clusters disrupt both protofilaments, consistent with a higher severing activity at boundaries compared to single cofilin. Comparison of these structures indicates that this disruption is substantially greater at pointed end sides of cofilactin clusters than at the barbed end. These structures, with the distribution of bound cofilin clusters, suggest that maximum binding cooperativity is achieved when 2 cofilins occupy adjacent sites. These results reveal the structural origins of cooperative cofilin binding and actin filament severing.

G-actin conformational change and polymerization induced by paraquat

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabella DalleDonne ◽  
Aldo Milzani ◽  
Roberto Colombo
Keyword(s):  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Mammalian Cells ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Cell Injury ◽  
Atp Hydrolysis ◽  
Protein Composition ◽  
Dnase I ◽  
Cross Linking ◽  
Cytoskeletal Protein ◽  
Actin Assembly

Paraquat (1,1´-dimethyl-4,4´-bipyridilium dichloride) is a broad-spectrum herbicide that is highly toxic to animals (including man), the major lesion being in the lung. In mammalian cells, paraquat causes deep alterations in the organization of the cytoskeleton, marked decreases in cytoskeletal protein synthesis, and alterations in cytoskeletal protein composition; therefore, the involvement of the cytoskeleton in cell injury by paraquat was suggested. We previously demonstrated that monomeric actin binds paraquat; moreover, prolonged actin exposure to paraquat, in depolymerizing medium, induces the formation of actin aggregates, which are built up by F-actin. In this work we have shown that the addition of paraquat to monomeric actin results in a strong quenching of Trp-79 and Trp-86 fluorescence. Trypsin digestion experiments demonstrated that the sequence 61-69 on actin subdomain 2 undergoes paraquat-dependent conformational changes. These paraquat-induced structural changes render actin unable to completely inhibit DNase I. By using intermolecular cross-linking to characterize oligomeric species formed during paraquat-induced actin assembly, we found that the herbicide causes the formation of actin oligomers characterized by subunit-subunit contacts like those occurring in oligomers induced by polymerizing salts (i.e., between subdomain 1 on one actin subunit and subdomain 4 on the adjacent subunit). Furthermore, the oligomerization of G-actin induced by paraquat is paralleled by ATP hydrolysis.Key words: actin, paraquat, subdomain 2, DNase I, ATP hydrolysis.

scholarly journals The integral membrane protein, ponticulin, acts as a monomer in nucleating actin assembly.

1993 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 909-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
C P Chia ◽  
A Shariff ◽  
S A Savage ◽  
E J Luna
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Protein ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Actin Polymerization ◽  
Plasma Membranes ◽  
Specific Activity ◽  
Lipid Vesicles ◽  
Integral Membrane Protein ◽  
Actin Binding ◽  
Actin Assembly ◽  
Nucleation Activity

Ponticulin, an F-actin binding transmembrane glycoprotein in Dictyostelium plasma membranes, was isolated by detergent extraction from cytoskeletons and purified to homogeneity. Ponticulin is an abundant membrane protein, averaging approximately 10(6) copies/cell, with an estimated surface density of approximately 300 per microns2. Ponticulin solubilized in octylglucoside exhibited hydrodynamic properties consistent with a ponticulin monomer in a spherical or slightly ellipsoidal detergent micelle with a total molecular mass of 56 +/- 6 kD. Purified ponticulin nucleated actin polymerization when reconstituted into Dictyostelium lipid vesicles, but not when a number of commercially available lipids and lipid mixtures were substituted for the endogenous lipid. The specific activity was consistent with that expected for a protein comprising 0.7 +/- 0.4%, by mass, of the plasma membrane protein. Ponticulin in octylglucoside micelles bound F-actin but did not nucleate actin assembly. Thus, ponticulin-mediated nucleation activity was sensitive to the lipid environment, a result frequently observed with transmembrane proteins. At most concentrations of Dictyostelium lipid, nucleation activity increased linearly with increasing amounts of ponticulin, suggesting that the nucleating species is a ponticulin monomer. Consistent with previous observations of lateral interactions between actin filaments and Dictyostelium plasma membranes, both ends of ponticulin-nucleated actin filaments appeared to be free for monomer assembly and disassembly. Our results indicate that ponticulin is a major membrane protein in Dictyostelium and that, in the proper lipid matrix, it is sufficient for lateral nucleation of actin assembly. To date, ponticulin is the only integral membrane protein known to directly nucleate actin polymerization.

scholarly journals Kinesin: switch I & II and the motor mechanism

2002 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Jon Kull ◽  
Sharyn A. Endow
Keyword(s):  
Crystal Structures ◽  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Active Site ◽  
Atp Hydrolysis ◽  
Nucleotide Binding ◽  
Structural Transitions ◽  
Rotational Movement ◽  
Atomic Models ◽  
Binding Cleft

New crystal structures of the kinesin motors differ from previously described motor-ADP atomic models, showing striking changes both in the switch I region near the nucleotide-binding cleft and in the switch II or ‘relay’ helix at the filament-binding face of the motor. The switch I region, present as a short helix flanked by two loops in previous motor-ADP structures, rearranges into a pseudo-β-hairpin or is completely disordered with melted helices to either side of the disordered switch I loop. The relay helix undergoes a rotational movement coupled to a translation that differs from the piston-like movement of the relay helix observed in myosin. The changes observed in the crystal structures are interpreted to represent structural transitions that occur in the kinesin motors during the ATP hydrolysis cycle. The movements of switch I residues disrupt the water-mediated coordination of the bound Mg2+, which could result in loss of Mg2+ and ADP, raising the intriguing possibility that disruption of the switch I region leads to release of nucleotide by the kinesins. None of the new structures is a true motor-ATP state, however, probably because conformational changes at the active site of the kinesins require interactions with microtubules to stabilize the movements.

scholarly journals Interactions of tensin with actin and identification of its three distinct actin-binding domains.

1994 ◽  
Vol 125 (5) ◽  
pp. 1067-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
S H Lo ◽  
P A Janmey ◽  
J H Hartwig ◽  
L B Chen
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Actin Polymerization ◽  
Sh2 Domain ◽  
Actin Binding ◽  
Molar Ratio ◽  
Actin Assembly ◽  
Binding Domains ◽  
Focal Contacts ◽  
End Capping

Tensin, a 200-kD phosphoprotein of focal contacts, contains sequence homologies to Src (SH2 domain), and several actin-binding proteins. These features suggest that tensin may link the cell membrane to the cytoskeleton and respond directly to tyrosine kinase signalling pathways. Here we identify three distinct actin-binding domains within tensin. Recombinant tensin purified after overexpression by a baculovirus system binds to actin filaments with Kd = 0.1 microM, cross-links actin filaments at a molar ratio of 1:10 (tensin/actin), and retards actin assembly by barbed end capping with Kd = 20 nM. Tensin fragments were constructed and expressed as fusion proteins to map domains having these activities. Three regions from tensin interact with actin: two regions composed of amino acids 1 to 263 and 263 to 463, cosediment with F-actin but do not alter the kinetics of actin assembly; a region composed of amino acids 888-989, with sequence homology to insertin, retards actin polymerization. A claw-shaped tensin dimer would have six potential actin-binding sites and could embrace the ends of two actin filaments at focal contacts.

scholarly journals Mechanism of K+-induced actin assembly.

1982 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 648-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
J D Pardee ◽  
J A Spudich
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Actin Filaments ◽  
Atp Hydrolysis ◽  
Uv Spectroscopy ◽  
Rabbit Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Actin Assembly ◽  
Filament Formation ◽  
Monomeric Species ◽  
Rapid Formation

The assembly of highly purified actin from Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae and rabbit skeletal muscle by physiological concentrations of KCI proceeds through successive stages of (a) rapid formation of a distinct monomeric species referred to as KCI-monomer, (b) incorporation of KCI-monomers into an ATP-containing filament, and (c) ATP hydrolysis that occurs significantly after the incorporation event. KCI-monomer has a conformation which is distinct from that of either conventional G- or F-actin, as judged by UV spectroscopy at 210-220 nm and by changes in ATP affinity. ATP is not hydrolyzed during conversion of G-actin to KCI-monomer. KCI-monomer formation precedes filament formation and may be necessary for the assembly event. Although incorporation of KCI-monomers into filaments demonstrates lagphase kinetics by viscometry, both continuous absorbance monitoring at 232 nm and rapid sedimentation of filaments demonstrate hyperbolic assembly curves. ATP hydrolysis significantly lags the formation of actin filaments. When half of the actin has assembled, only 0.1 to 0.2 mole of ATP are hydrolyzed per mole of actin present as filaments.

scholarly journals Rac1 GTPase activates the WAVE regulatory complex through two distinct binding sites

eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baoyu Chen ◽  
Hui-Ting Chou ◽  
Chad A Brautigam ◽  
Wenmin Xing ◽  
Sheng Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Binding Sites ◽  
Actin Polymerization ◽  
Rho Gtpase ◽  
Biochemical Data ◽  
Actin Assembly ◽  
Cellular Processes ◽  
Cryo Electron Microscopy ◽  
Regulatory Complex ◽  
Rac1 Gtpase

The Rho GTPase Rac1 activates the WAVE regulatory complex (WRC) to drive Arp2/3 complex-mediated actin polymerization, which underpins diverse cellular processes. Here we report the structure of a WRC-Rac1 complex determined by cryo-electron microscopy. Surprisingly, Rac1 is not located at the binding site on the Sra1 subunit of the WRC previously identified by mutagenesis and biochemical data. Rather, it binds to a distinct, conserved site on the opposite end of Sra1. Biophysical and biochemical data on WRC mutants confirm that Rac1 binds to both sites, with the newly identified site having higher affinity and both sites required for WRC activation. Our data reveal that the WRC is activated by simultaneous engagement of two Rac1 molecules, suggesting a mechanism by which cells may sense the density of active Rac1 at membranes to precisely control actin assembly.

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