Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Cell surface (cortical) actin remodeling is a cyclic (9-step) process where each step is directly responsive to a cell signaling mechanism. Over the course of the cycle, actin begins as a monomer, elongates into a polymer with the help of attached actin-binding-proteins, and disassembles back into a monomer so the remodeling cycle may commence again.
Many actin-related molecules create a free barbed end for polymerization by uncapping or severing pre-existing filaments and using these as actin nucleation cores. However, the Arp2/3 complex stimulates actin polymerization by creating a new nucleation core. Actin nucleation is an initial step in the formation of an actin filament.
The nucleation of new actin filaments – the rate-limiting step in actin polymerization – is aided by actin-nucleating proteins such as formins (like formin-2) and the Arp2/3 complex. [118] Formins help to nucleate long actin filaments. They bind two free actin-ATP molecules, bringing them together.
Actin plays a role in the formation of new spines as well as stabilizing spine volume increase. [1] The changes that actin brings about lead to the formation of new synapses as well as increased cell communication. Actin remodeling consists of the dynamic changes in actin polymerization that underlie the morphological changes at the neural synapse.
The distinction between "step-growth polymerization" and "chain-growth polymerization" was introduced by Paul Flory in 1953, and refers to the reaction mechanisms, respectively: [4] by functional groups (step-growth polymerization) by free-radical or ion (chain-growth polymerization)
In chain-growth (or chain) polymerization, the only chain-extension reaction step is the addition of a monomer to a growing chain with an active center such as a free radical, cation, or anion. Once the growth of a chain is initiated by formation of an active center, chain propagation is usually rapid by addition of a sequence of monomers.
Association of G-actin into F-actin is regulated by the critical concentration outlined below. Actin polymerization can further be regulated by profilin and cofilin . [ 6 ] Cofilin functions by binding to ADP-actin on the negative end of the filament, destabilizing it, and inducing depolymerization.
Reversible-addition-fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization (RAFT polymerization, RAFT): Degenerate-transfer radical polymerization in which chain activation and chain deactivation involve a degenerative chain-transfer process which occurs by a two-step addition-fragmentation mechanism. Note 1: Examples of RAFT agents include certain ...