Evolutionary conservation of the WASH complex, an actin polymerization machine involved in endosomal fission.

ABSTRACT: WASH is the Arp2/3 activating protein that is localized at the surface of endosomes, where it induces the formation of branched actin networks. This activity of WASH favors, in collaboration with dynamin, the fission of transport intermediates from endosomes, and hence regulates endosomal trafficking of several cargos. We have purified a novel stable multiprotein complex containing WASH, the WASH complex, and we examine here the evolutionary conservation of its seven subunits across diverse eukaryotic phyla. This analysis supports the idea that the invention of the WASH complex has involved the incorporation of an independent complex, the CapZ alpha/beta heterodimer, forming the so-called Capping Protein (CP), as illustrated by the yeasts S. cerevisiae and S. pombe, which possess the CP he

SUBMITTER: Derivery E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2918762 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature