Actin Structure and Function: What We Still Do Not Understand

2007/10/26 by Emil Reisler, Edward H. Egelman · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Materials Science · Chemistry · #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #Heat shock proteins research #Enzyme Structure and Function #Actin #Actin cytoskeleton #Chemistry #Biology #Biochemistry #Cytoskeleton #Cell

paper · pdf · doi:10.1074/jbc.r700030200

openalex publication_date 2007/10/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Actin is interesting. We state this not just because actin is so plentiful that it is the single most abundant protein in many eukaryotic cells. Actin is interesting not only because it is so highly conserved that between humans and chickens there have been no amino acid changes in the 375 residues present in the skeletal muscle isoform (1). We think that actin remains interesting because after more than 60 years of study (2) fundamental questions about actin structure and dynamics and how these determine function remain unanswered.

Citations

• The structure of crystalline profilin–β-actin
• The Crystal Structure of Uncomplexed Actin in the ADP State
• Crystal Structures of Expressed Non-polymerizable Monomeric Actin in the ADP and ATP States
• Prokaryotic origin of the actin cytoskeleton
• UCSF Chimera—A visualization system for exploratory research and analysis
• Atomic structure of the actin: DNase I complex
• An Actin Homolog of the Archaeon Thermoplasma acidophilum That Retains the Ancient Characteristics of Eukaryotic Actin

Cited by

• Water Molecules in the Nucleotide Binding Cleft of Actin: Effects on Subunit Conformation and Implications for ATP Hydrolysis
• Actin [wikipedia]

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• Actin Amino-Acid Sequences. Comparison of Actins from Calf Thymus, Bovine Brain, and SV40-Transformed Mouse 3T3 Cells with Rabbit Skeletal Muscle Actin