Cortactin promotes migration and platelet-derived growth factor-induced actin reorganization by signaling to Rho-GTPases.

ABSTRACT: Dynamic actin rearrangements are initiated and maintained by actin filament nucleators, including the Arp2/3-complex. This protein assembly is activated in vitro by distinct nucleation-promoting factors such as Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein/Scar family proteins or cortactin, but the relative in vivo functions of each of them remain controversial. Here, we report the conditional genetic disruption of murine cortactin, implicated previously in dynamic actin reorganizations driving lamellipodium protrusion and endocytosis. Unexpectedly, cortactin-deficient cells showed little changes in overall cell morphology and growth. Ultrastructural analyses and live-cell imaging studies revealed unimpaired lamellipodial architecture, Rac-induced protrusion, and actin network turnover, although actin

SUBMITTER: Lai FP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2710823 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature