Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Sci. STKE, 4 May 2004
Vol. 2004, Issue 231, p. tw161
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.2312004tw161]

EDITORS' CHOICE

CELL MOTILITY Cofilin in Locomotion

Cofilin is a cytoskeletal protein that binds and severs actin filaments. But is cofilin simply required to regenerate free actin, while the Arp2/3 complex regulates actin polymerization at the leading edge of migrating cells? Ghosh et al. now suggest that cofilin plays a more direct role in cell motility. Cofilin is regulated by phosphorylation, and, using an inactive phosphocofilin mimic that could be switched on by a brief burst of light, global activation produced increased cell movement. Local activation instead induced cell surface protrusions that set the direction of cell migration.

M. Ghosh, X. Song, G. Mouneimne, M. Sidani, D. S. Lawrence, J. S. Condeelis, Cofilin promotes actin polymerization and defines the direction of cell motility. Science 304, 743-746 (2004). [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: Cofilin in Locomotion. Sci. STKE 2004, tw161 (2004).

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882