Actin isolation

Swinholide A, isolated from the marine sponge Theonella swinhoei, sequesters actin dimers and induces their formation. One molecule of swinholide A binds to one dimer. In addition, swinholide A can sever F-actin by binding to the neighbouring protomers. Increased depolymerization of F-actin has also been reported. 

Chaussepied, P. Kasprzak, A.A. (1989). Isolation and characterization of the G-actin-myosin head complex. Namre 342,950-953. 

Adams, R.J.. Pollard, T.D. (1986). Propulsion of organelles isolated from Acanthamoeba along actin filaments by myosin-1. Nature 322, 754-756. 

Hatano, S., Oosawa, F. (1966). Isolation and characterization of plasmodium actin. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 127,488-498. 

The general picture of muscle contraction in the heart resembles that of skeletal muscle. Cardiac muscle, like skeletal muscle, is striated and uses the actin-myosin-tropomyosin-troponin system described above. Unlike skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle exhibits intrinsic rhyth-micity, and individual myocytes communicate with each other because of its syncytial nature. The T tubular system is more developed in cardiac muscle, whereas the sarcoplasmic reticulum is less extensive and consequently the intracellular supply of Ca for contraction is less. Cardiac muscle thus relies on extracellular Ca for contraction if isolated cardiac muscle is deprived of Ca, it ceases to beat within approximately 1 minute, whereas skeletal muscle can continue to contract without an extraceUular source of Ca +. Cyclic AMP plays a more prominent role in cardiac than in skeletal muscle. It modulates intracellular levels of Ca through the activation of protein kinases these enzymes phosphorylate various transport proteins in the sarcolemma and sarcoplasmic reticulum and also in the troponin-tropomyosin regulatory complex, affecting intracellular levels of Ca or responses to it. There is a rough correlation between the phosphorylation of Tpl and the increased contraction of cardiac muscle induced by catecholamines. This may account for the inotropic effects (increased contractility) of P-adrenergic compounds on the heart. Some differences among skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle are summarized in... 

The cellular/molecular mechanism of action for these cyclic peptide toxins is now an area of active research in several laboratories. These peptides cause striking ultrastructural changes in isolated hepatocytes (95) including a decrease in the polymerization of actin. This effect on the cells cytoskeletal system continues to be investigated and recent work indirectly supports the idea that these toxins interact with the cells cytoskeletal system (86,96). Why there is a specificity of these toxins for liver cells is not clear although it has been suggested that the bile uptake system may be at least partly responsible for penetration of the toxin into the cell (92). 

Brading With actin in isolation, can you find out anything about the kinetics of binding of kinase onto actin molecules ... 

Walsh The kinase binds to actin in the isolated state with a Kj of about 0.8 //M and to myofilaments with a Kof about 0.1 /tM. No measurements of the on- and off-rates have been made, however. In situ, most importantly, MLCK appears to be permanently bound since it does not dissociate from detergent-treated smooth muscle tissues, implying that the off-rate in situ is extremely slow or zero. 

Several experimental approaches can be employed to determine the pool sizes of polymerised and non-polymerised actin. Firstly, the enzyme DNAse I is inhibited by monomeric (G) actin, but not by polymerised (F) actin. Secondly, polymerised actin can be directly visualised by use of fluorescent derivatives of phalloidin, a cyclic peptide isolated from the toadstool Amanita phalloides that selectively binds to polymerised actin with high affinity. 

Labeled phallotoxines (phalloidins) The bicyclic peptides isolated from Amanita phalloides mushroom bind selectively to F-actin in nanomolar concentrations. They have advantages over antibodies for actin labeling... 

The fermentation broth of an unidentified endophytic fungus isolated from plants growing in Hawaii has afforded microcarpalide I (59), an alkyl-substituted nonenolide that is weakly cytotoxic as a result of its ability to disrupt microfilaments. Extracts from the strain 112/13 collected from the bark oiFicus microcarpa L. (Moraceae) demonstrated a strong abrogation of microfilament activity. In A-10 rat smooth muscle cells, a 5 Xg/mL dose was able to induce a 50%—75% loss of actin filaments. Microcarpalide 1... 

Actin-binding proteins ABP-50, purification, 196, 78 ABP-120, purification, 196, 79 ABP-240 purification, 196, 76 effect on actin depolymerization, 215, 74 extraction, 196, 311 isolation from Dictyostelium discoideum, 196, 70 platelet-derived actin binding proteins [characterization, 215, 58 purification, 215, 58, 64 recombination with actin, 215, 73] 30-kDa Dictyostelium discoideum actin-crosslinking protein [assays, 196, 91 preparation, 196, 84] actin-depolymerizing factor [assay, 196, 132[ DNase assay, 196, 136 platelet-derived a-actinin [characterization, 215, 58 purification, 215, 58, 70 recombination with actin, 215, 73]. 

A characteristic feature of the SuSy isoforms is a conserved phosphorylated serine residue near the N-terminus [8-10]. In-vivo studies have demonstrated that phosphorylation and dephosphorylation direct the distribution of SuSy isoforms in the plant cell [10-12]. The soluble phosphorylated SuSy interacts with the actin cytoskeleton in the cytoplasm [13], and the dephosphorylated SuSy isoforms are targeted to the cell membrane to form complexes with other enzymes, e.g., glucan synthase, catalyzing cellulose biosynthesis from sucrose [4, 10, 14]. In this respect, recent studies on the dephosphorylated enzymes by cloning and expression of SMS genes in E. coli have shown differences in some biochemical features when compared to the enzymes isolated from the corresponding plant material. Recom-... 

Dolastatin 10 has been evaluated with promising results in a phase I clinical study in patients with solid tumors. Subsequently, its noticeable antitumor activity was well documented in various in vitro and in vivo tumor models (Madden et al., 2000). More than a dozen dolastatin peptides have been isolated to date. Recent studies have shown, for example, that the depsipeptide dolastatin 11 arrests cells at cytokinesis by causing a rapid and massive rearrangement of the cellular actin filament network and induces the hyperpolymerization of purified actin (Bai et al., 2001). The effects of dolastatin 11 were similar to those of the sponge-derived depsipeptide jasplakinolide however, dolastatin 11 exhibited threefold more cytotoxicity than jasplakinolide in the cells studied. 

Most of the machinery of living cells is made of enzymes. Thousands of them have been extracted from cells and have been purified and crystallized. Many others are recognized only by their catalytic action and have not yet been isolated in pure form. Most enzymes are soluble globular proteins but an increasing number of RNA molecules are also being recognized as enzymes. Many structural proteins of the cell also act as catalysts. For example, the muscle proteins actin and myosin together catalyze the hydrolysis of ATP and link the hydrolysis to movement (Chapter 19). Catalysis is one of the most fundamental characteristics of life. 

The myofibrillar proteins make up 50-60% of the total protein of muscle cells. Insoluble at low ionic strengths, these proteins dissolve when the ionic strength exceeds -0.3 and can be extracted with salt solutions. Analysis of isolated mammalian myofibrils86 shows that nine proteins account for 96% or more of the protein myosin, which constitutes the bulk of the thick filaments, accounts for 43% and actin, the principal component of the thin filaments, 22%. 

That actin and myosin are jointly responsible for contraction was demonstrated long before the fine structure of the myofibril became known. In about 1929, ATP was recognized as the energy source for muscle contraction, but it was not until 10 years later that Engelhardt and Ljubimowa showed that isolated myosin preparations catalyzed the hydrolysis of ATP.138 Szent-Gyorgi139 140 showed that a combination of the two proteins actin (discovered by F. Straub141) and myosin was required for Mg2+-stimulated ATP hydrolysis (ATPase activity). He called this combination actomyosin. 

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