Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 May 1;216(5):1211-1213.
doi: 10.1083/jcb.201702165. Epub 2017 Apr 17.

Actin filament assembly by bacterial factors VopL/F: Which end is up?

Christina L Vizcarra  1 , Margot E Quinlan  2   3
Affiliations

Actin filament assembly by bacterial factors VopL/F: Which end is up?

Christina L Vizcarra et al. J Cell Biol. .

Abstract

Competing models have been proposed for actin filament nucleation by the bacterial proteins VopL/F. In this issue, Burke et al. (2017. J. Cell Biol. https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201608104) use direct observation to demonstrate that VopL/F bind the barbed and pointed ends of actin filaments but only nucleate new filaments from the pointed end.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
WH2–actin interactions. (A) Actin is shown in the standard orientation with the subdomains labeled. The WH2 domain (blue) binds between subdomains 1 and 3 of monomeric actin (highlighted in green; PDB 3M1F). (B) In structural models of the actin filament (PDB 2ZWH shown here), the WH2 binding site is accessible at the barbed end of the filament but not the pointed end. (C) Based on the results of Burke et al. (2017), VopL/F is a dimer that nucleates new filaments from the pointed end. Shortly thereafter, the filament is released.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Burke et al.

References

    1. Bosch M., Le K.H., Bugyi B., Correia J.J., Renault L., and Carlier M.F.. 2007. Analysis of the function of Spire in actin assembly and its synergy with formin and profilin. Mol. Cell. 28:555–568. 10.1016/j.molcel.2007.09.018 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Burke T.A., Harker A.J., Dominguez R., and Kovar D.R.. 2017. The bacterial virulence factors VopL and VopF nucleate actin from the pointed end. J. Cell Biol. 10.1083/jcb.201608104 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chen C.K., Sawaya M.R., Phillips M.L., Reisler E., and Quinlan M.E.. 2012. Multiple forms of Spire-actin complexes and their functional consequences. J. Biol. Chem. 287:10684–10692. 10.1074/jbc.M111.317792 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dominguez R. 2016. The WH2 Domain and Actin Nucleation: Necessary but Insufficient. Trends Biochem. Sci. 41:478–490. 10.1016/j.tibs.2016.03.004 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Namgoong S., Boczkowska M., Glista M.J., Winkelman J.D., Rebowski G., Kovar D.R., and Dominguez R.. 2011. Mechanism of actin filament nucleation by Vibrio VopL and implications for tandem W domain nucleation. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 18:1060–1067. 10.1038/nsmb.2109 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources