The mother of all actins?

Merino, Felipe; Raunser, Stefan

doi:10.7554/elife.23354

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The actin cytoskeleton is an ancient constituent of living cells and epitomizes the fundamental principle of the noncovalent “polymerization” of globular protein units into “cytomotive” filamentous structures, already present in prokaryotes [ 335 , 336 , 337 , 338 ]. The recent discovery of a protoactin along with a subset of proteins involved in actin polymerization and depolymerization in Asgard archaea established that a dynamic actin cytoskeleton predates the advent of eukaryotes [ 339 , 340 , 341 , 342 , 343 ]. This and other related findings [ 144 , 344 ] strongly support the view that the basic constitutive and regulatory elements of the actin cytoskeleton, the principles of its organization and polarity, as well as the actin-dependent phenotypes, were already established in the common ancestor of all eukaryotes [ 343 , 345 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulation of the Actin Cytoskeleton via Rho GTPase Signalling in Dictyostelium and Mammalian Cells: A Parallel Slalom

Filić

Mijanović

Putar

et al. 2021

Cells

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Both Dictyostelium amoebae and mammalian cells are endowed with an elaborate actin cytoskeleton that enables them to perform a multitude of tasks essential for survival. Although these organisms diverged more than a billion years ago, their cells share the capability of chemotactic migration, large-scale endocytosis, binary division effected by actomyosin contraction, and various types of adhesions to other cells and to the extracellular environment. The composition and dynamics of the transient actin-based structures that are engaged in these processes are also astonishingly similar in these evolutionary distant organisms. The question arises whether this remarkable resemblance in the cellular motility hardware is accompanied by a similar correspondence in matching software, the signalling networks that govern the assembly of the actin cytoskeleton. Small GTPases from the Rho family play pivotal roles in the control of the actin cytoskeleton dynamics. Indicatively, Dictyostelium matches mammals in the number of these proteins. We give an overview of the Rho signalling pathways that regulate the actin dynamics in Dictyostelium and compare them with similar signalling networks in mammals. We also provide a phylogeny of Rho GTPases in Amoebozoa, which shows a variability of the Rho inventories across different clades found also in Metazoa.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulation of the Actin Cytoskeleton via Rho GTPase Signalling in Dictyostelium and Mammalian Cells: A Parallel Slalom

Filić

Mijanović

Putar

et al. 2021

Cells

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For the understanding of the evolution of the actin superfamily, they are also key. While all known members share the same fold, prokaryotes have evolved a large array of actin-like filaments with different helical lattices: left-or right-handed, staggered, unstaggered, or even apolar (12). This observation raises the question as to whether the actin filament has been invented more than once in evolution.…”

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confidence: 99%