Institut Jacques Monod Seminars – Peter Bieling

Invited by the Romet-Lemonne/Jégou Lab, Peter Bieling (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund) présentera un séminaire de l’Institut Jacques Monod sur le thème :

The end in sight – an in-depth perspective on actin filament dynamics

Abstract:

All eukaryotic cells actively establish and change their shape through a spatially diversified actin cytoskeleton. The ends of actin filaments have emerged as important regulatory sites, to which a diverse set of regulators bind to control cytoskeleton dynamics. Recently, we have overcome the biophysical challenges associated with generating uniform populations of short actin filaments. This paved the way for the structural characterization of filament ends not only on their own, but also in complex with small molecule drugs and actin end-binding proteins. First, this allowed us to identify the mechanism underlying the biochemical aging of actin subunits after their incorporation into the filament.  Second, it enabled us to understand at the molecular level how a diversity of regulatory factors controls the speed of subunit addition and loss at the end of actin filaments.