|
||
J. Cell Biol.,
Volume 142, Number 6, September 21, 1998 1501-1517

* Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Actin in eukaryotic cells is found in different
pools, with filaments being organized into a variety of
supramolecular assemblies. To investigate the assembly
and functional relationships between different parts of
the actin cytoskeleton in one cell, we studied the morphology and dynamics of cables and patches in yeast.
The fine structure of actin cables and the manner in
which cables disassemble support a model in which cables are composed of a number of overlapping actin filaments. No evidence for intrinsic polarity of cables was
found.
To investigate to what extent different parts of the actin cytoskeleton depend on each other, we looked for
relationships between cables and patches. Patches and
cables were often associated, and their polarized distributions were highly correlated. Therefore, patches and
cables do appear to depend on each other for assembly and function.
Many cell types show rearrangements of the actin cytoskeleton, which can occur via assembly or movement
of actin filaments. In our studies, dramatic changes in
actin polarization did not include changes in filamentous actin. In addition, the concentration of actin
patches was relatively constant as cells grew. Therefore, cells do not have bursts of activity in which new parts of
the actin cytoskeleton are created.
Institute for Biomedical Computing, Washington University, St. Louis,
Missouri 63110
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|