Actin Filament Strain Promotes Severing and Cofilin Dissociation.

ABSTRACT: Computational and structural studies have been indispensable in investigating the molecular origins of actin filament mechanical properties and modulation by the regulatory severing protein cofilin. All-atom molecular dynamics simulations of cofilactin filament structures determined by electron cryomicroscopy reveal how cofilin enhances the bending and twisting compliance of actin filaments. Continuum mechanics models suggest that buckled cofilactin filaments localize elastic energy at boundaries between bare and cofilin-decorated segments because of their nonuniform elasticity, thereby accelerating filament severing. Here, we develop mesoscopic length-scale (cofil)actin filament models and evaluate the effects of compressive and twisting loads on strain energy distribution at specific int

SUBMITTER: Schramm AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5479148 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature