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.
Subscribe

Logo for

Science 334 (6063): 1710-1713

Copyright © 2011 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Direct Redox Regulation of F-Actin Assembly and Disassembly by Mical

Ruei-Jiun Hung,1 Chi W. Pak,2 Jonathan R. Terman1,*

Abstract: Different types of cell behavior, including growth, motility, and navigation, require actin proteins to assemble into filaments. Here, we describe a biochemical process that was able to disassemble actin filaments and limit their reassembly. Actin was a specific substrate of the multidomain oxidation-reduction enzyme, Mical, a poorly understood actin disassembly factor that directly responds to Semaphorin/Plexin extracellular repulsive cues. Actin filament subunits were directly modified by Mical on their conserved pointed-end, which is critical for filament assembly. Mical posttranslationally oxidized the methionine 44 residue within the D-loop of actin, simultaneously severing filaments and decreasing polymerization. This mechanism underlying actin cytoskeletal collapse may have broad physiological and pathological ramifications.

1 Departments of Neuroscience and Pharmacology and Neuroscience Graduate Program, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
2 Department of Biochemistry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jonathan.terman{at}utsouthwestern.edu

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Semaphorin 4D/Plexin-B1-Mediated M-Ras GAP Activity Regulates Actin-Based Dendrite Remodeling through Lamellipodin.
G.-i. Tasaka, M. Negishi, and I. Oinuma (2012)
J. Neurosci. 32, 8293-8305
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »

To Advertise     Find Products

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