spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif The Node. Discuss debate and deliberate developmental biology spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online 27 November 2007
doi: 10.1242/jcs.017640

Journal of Cell Science 120, 4332-4344 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
jcs.017640v1
120/24/4332    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mseka, T.
Right arrow Articles by Cramer, L. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mseka, T.
Right arrow Articles by Cramer, L. P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Research Article

ADF/cofilin family proteins control formation of oriented actin-filament bundles in the cell body to trigger fibroblast polarization

Tayamika Mseka1, Jim R. Bamburg2 and Louise P. Cramer1,3,*

1 MRC-Laboratory Molecular Cell Biology, UCL, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
2 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1870, USA
3 Department of Biology, UCL, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: l.cramer{at}ucl.ac.uk)

Accepted 24 September 2007

How formation of the front and rear of a cell are coordinated during cell polarization in migrating cells is not well understood. Time-lapse microscopy of live primary chick embryo heart fibroblasts expressing GFP-actin show that, prior to cell polarization, polymerized actin in the cell body reorganizes to form oriented actin-filament bundles spanning the entire cell body. Within an average of 5 minutes of oriented actin bundles forming, localized cell-edge retraction initiates at either the side or at one end of the newly formed bundles and then elaborates around the nearest end of the bundles to form the cell rear, the first visual break in cell symmetry. Localized net protrusion occurs at the opposing end of the bundles to form the cell front and lags formation of the rear of the cell. Consequently, cells acquire full polarity and start to migrate in the direction of the long axis of the bundles, as previously documented for already migrating cells. When ADF/cofilin family protein activity or actin-filament disassembly is specifically blocked during cell polarization, reorganization of polymerized actin to form oriented actin-filament bundles in the cell body fails, and formation of the cell rear and front is inhibited. We conclude that formation of oriented actin-filament bundles in the cell body requires ADF/cofilin family proteins, and is an early event needed to coordinate the spatial location of the cell rear and front during fibroblast polarization.

Key words: ADF/cofilin, Actin bundles, Cell motility, Cell polarization


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2007