QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Actin' roles for Ena/VASP proteins

Research into cytoskeletal dynamics has uncovered various actin-binding proteins, including the Arp2/3 complex, the monomer-binding protein profilin, capping proteins and Ena/VASP proteins. Over the past few years, the roles of many of these have become clearer. Ena/VASP proteins, however, have been implicated in both promotion and inhibition of actin-dependent processes. On p. 4721, Frank Gertler and co-workers discuss work that could resolve this apparent paradox, arguing that differences between whole cell behaviour and that of cell parts can account for previous contradictory findings. Studies of fibroblast motility, for example, indicate that Ena/VASP proteins bind to the free barbed ends of actin filaments in the distal tips of lamellipodia/filopodia, where they antagonize capping proteins that inhibit filament elongation. Ena/VASP proteins may thus promote lamellipodial extension but reduce overall motility, since the lamellipodia generated are unbranched and less stable. Interestingly, `anticapping' is not the only function of Ena/VASP proteins: studies of Listeria motility show it requires their profilin-binding activity instead. An additional function of these proteins might therefore be to recruit profilin and thereby provide a supply of polymerization-competent actin monomers for filament nucleation.

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

Related articles in JCS:

The Ena/VASP enigma

Matthias Krause, James E. Bear, Joseph J. Loureiro, and Frank B. Gertler
JCS 2002 115: 4721-4726. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?