Some cells, such as immune cells, are highly mobile—they constantly remodel their shape, migrate toward a wound that needs to be closed or chase down bacteria in the bloodstream. This mobility is ...

It forms networks of thin, flexible filaments that affect the shape, stiffness, and movement of cells. Studies have found that aging alters actin expression, disrupting the cytoskeleton’s functions, ...

Researchers at Kanazawa University report in eLife on deciphering the actin structure-dependent preferential cooperative binding of cofilin. The actin filament is a double-stranded helical structure ...

Formins are made of two identical parts (red, orange) that encircle the actin (grey) filament in a ring-like conformation. “Our discovery allows us to interpret decades of biochemical studies on ...

Tiny things matter – for instance, one amino acid can completely alter the architecture of the cell. Researchers at the Universities of Göttingen and Warwick investigated the structure and mechanics ...

In all eukaryotic cells, actin protein assembles to form a network of thin filaments that spread throughout the cell. The actin filaments give the cell its structure, enable the cell to move, and ...

Cancer cells are subjected to high mechanical pressure that leads to a rupture of the nuclear envelope when migrating through narrow tissue structures, as in the case of metastasis. DNA would normally ...

Buildup of a protein called filamentous actin, or F-actin, in the brain inhibits the removal of cellular wastes, including DNA, lipids, proteins and organelles. The resulting accumulation of waste ...