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  • 1
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Abstract: The purification of drebrin, an actin-binding protein that is specifically expressed in embryonic rat brain, was described previously. During the purification of drebrin, we found that an actin-binding protein of 54 kDa was also expressed at high levels in embryonic brain, and this protein was identified by immunoblotting as fascin. To explore the roles of fascin in brain development, we purified fascin from brains of infant rats and characterized it. We found that the actin-binding activity of fascin was strongly inhibited by drebrin. Fascin caused formation of actin bundles, a process that was inhibited in the presence of drebrin, as confirmed by electron microscopy and a low-speed centrifugation assay. In PC12 cells, fascin was localized in the filopodia of growth cones, whereas drebrin was localized in the basal region of growth cones. Our results suggest that fascin might play an important role in the organization of actin in filopodia and that this organization might be regulated by drebrin.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 2
    ISSN: 1471-4159
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Fascin-1 is a putative bundling factor of actin filaments in the filopodia of neuronal growth cones. Here, we examined the structure of the actin bundle formed by human fascin-1 (actin/fascin bundle), and its mode of interaction with myosin in vitro. The distance between cross-linked filaments in the actin/bundle was 8–9 nm, and the bundle showed the transverse periodicity of 36 nm perpendicular to the bundle axis, which was confirmed by electron microscopy. Decoration of the actin/fascin bundle with heavy meromyosin revealed that the arrowheads of filaments in the bundle pointed in the same direction, indicating that the bundle has polarity. This result suggested that fascin-1 plays an essential role in polarity of actin bundles in filopodia. In the in vitro motility assay, actin/fascin bundles slid as fast as single actin filaments on myosin II and myosin V. When myosin was attached to the surface at high density, the actin/fascin bundle disassembled to single filaments at the pointed end of the bundle during sliding. These results suggest that myosins may drive filopodial actin bundles backward by interacting with actin filaments on the surface, and may induce disassembly of the bundle at the basal region of filopodia.
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  • 3
    ISSN: 1573-4919
    Keywords: skeletal muscle ; myosin light chain kinase ; actin-binding ; actin-myosin interaction
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology , Chemistry and Pharmacology , Medicine
    Notes: Abstract Myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) has been purified from various muscles as an enzyme to phosphorylate myosin light chains. While the regulatory role of smooth muscle MLCK is well understood, the role of skeletal muscle MLCK in the regulation of contraction has not been fully characterized. Such characterization of skeletal muscle MLCK is difficult because skeletal muscle myosin interacts with actin whether or not the myosin is phosphorylated. Taking the hint from our recent finding that smooth muscle MLCK inhibits the actin-myosin interaction by binding to actin (Kohama et al., Biochem Biophys Res Commun 184: 1204-1211, 1992), we investigated the regulatory role of the actin-binding activity of MLCK from chicken breast muscle in the actin-myosin interaction. The amount of MLCK that bound to actin increased with increases in the concentration of MLCK. However, MLCK hardly bound to myosin. The actin-binding activity of MLCK was affected when Ca2+ and calmodulin (Ca2+-CaM) were present. The effect of MLCK on the actin-myosin interaction was examined by an in vitro motility assay; the movement of actin-filaments on a myosin-coated glass surface was inhibited by increasing the concentration of MLCK. When CaM was present, the inhibition was overcome in a Ca2+-dependent manner at μM levels. The inhibition of the movement by MLCK and the recovery from the inhibition by Ca2+-CaM were not altered whether we use phosphorylated or unphosphorylated myosin for the assay, ruling out the involvement of the kinase activity of MLCK.
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  • 4
    ISSN: 1432-1912
    Keywords: Okadaic acid ; Contraction ; Skinned fiber ; Smooth muscle ; Calmodulin
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Medicine
    Notes: Summary 1. Okadaic acid isolated from black sponge (Halichondria okadai), at the concentration of 10 μmol/l, caused contraction in saponin-treated skinned smooth muscle of guinea-pig taenia coli in the absence of Ca2+. In the presence of low concentration (0.3 μmol/l) of Ca2+ okadaic acid induced a greater contraction than in the absence of Ca2+ 2. Okadaic acid potentiated the contractions induced by Ca2+ and pCa2+-tension curve was shifted to the left as well as upward by 1 μmol/l okadaic acid. 3. Native actomyosin preparation (myosin B) containing calmodulinmyosin light chain kinase system and phosphatase was obtained from taenia coli. Okadaic acid (10 μmol/l) increased the actomyosin Mg2+-ATPase activity in the presence or absence of Ca2+. 4. Okadaic acid (1–100 μmol/l) had no effect on calmodulin activity as monitored by Ca2+-calmodulin activated cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity and the (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase activity of erythrocyte membranes. 5. These results suggest that okadaic acid directly activates contractile elements of smooth muscle.
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  • 5
    ISSN: 1573-2657
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: Summary We have isolated and purified an activity from amoebae ofPhysarum polycephalum that reduces the flow birefringence of a solution of F-actin in a Ca2+-dependent manner. The purified activity from 100 g of amoebae consisted of 1 mg of a 40000 mol. wt protein. DNase I-affinity chromatography demonstrated that the protein binds toPhysarum actin in a Ca2+-dependent manner, and the binding is not reversed by excess EGTA. Viscometric measurement indicated that the protein (i) accelerates polymerization of G-actin, and (ii) severs F-actin, in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Thus, the protein appeared functionally similar to the fragmin previously isolated fromPhysarum plasmodia (plasmodial fragmin). However, the two proteins had slightly different mobilities on urea-SDS-PAGE, and antibodies raised against the two proteins scarcely cross-reacted with each other. Hence, we conclude that the two proteins are closely related to but are different from each other, and we have named the novel protein ‘myxamoebal fragmin’. Immunoblot analysis indicated that myxamoebal and plasmodial fragmins are specifically present in amoebae and plasmodia, respectively. Results of immunofluorescence staining suggest that the synthesis of plasmodial fragmin is switched on coordinately with the synthesis of the heavy chain of plasmodial myosin and other plasmodium-specific contractile proteins during the apogamic differentiation of amoebae to plasmodia.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 6
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Springer
    Journal of muscle research and cell motility 13 (1992), S. 321-328 
    ISSN: 1573-2657
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: Summary From the plasmodia of a lower eukaryote,Physarum polycephalum, we have previously purified a 210-kDa protein that showed similar properties to those of smooth muscle caldesmon. Further characterization of the 210-kDa protein revealed that it bundled actin filaments. This bundling activity was inhibited by calmodulin in the presence of Ca2+. Unlike smooth muscle caldesmon, the 210-kDa protein bundled actin filaments whether or not a reducing agent, such as dithiothreitol, was present. The protein was shown to have two (or more) different actin-binding sites which were classified into salt-sensitive and salt-insensitive sites. Electron microscopy revealed that the 210-kDa protein was an elongated molecule (mean length, 97 ± 25 nm) which was bent in the middle. The Stokes radius and sedimentation coefficient of the 210-kDa protein were 130 Å and 2.9 S, respectively. An immunofluorescence study revealed that the 210-kDa protein colocalized with the bundles of actin filaments in thin-spread preparations ofPhysarum plasmodia, suggesting that the 210-kDa protein was regulating the appearance and disappearance of the actin bundles that are associated with the contraction-relaxation cycle of the plasmodia.
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  • 7
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    New York, NY : Wiley-Blackwell
    Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton 23 (1992), S. 244-251 
    ISSN: 0886-1544
    Keywords: actin ; in vitro motility assay ; microtubule bundling ; Life and Medical Sciences ; Cell & Developmental Biology
    Source: Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: We have previously shown that nonmuscle caldesmon copurified with brain microtubules binds to microtubules in vitro [Ishikawa et al.: FEBS Lett. 299:54-56, 1992]. To explore the role of caldesmon in the functions of microtubules, further characterization was performed using smooth muscle caldesmon, whose molecular structure and function have been best-characterized in all caldesmon species.Smooth muscle caldesmon bound to microtubules with a stoichiometry of five tubulin dimers to one molecule of caldesmon with the binding constant of 1.1 × 106M-1. The binding of caldesmon to microtubules was inhibited in the presence of Ca2+ and calmodulin. Partial digestion of the caldesmon with α-chymotrypsin revealed that the binding site of the caldesmon for microtubules lay in the 34-kDa C-terminal domain. When the caldesmon was in the dimeric form in the absence of a reducing agent, the caldesmon cross-linked microtubules to form bundles. Further, the caldesmon potentiated the polymerization of tubulin, and inhibited the in vitro movement of microtubules on dynein. These results suggest that caldesmon may be involved in the regulation by Ca2+ of the functions of microtubules. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
    Additional Material: 5 Ill.
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  • 8
    ISSN: 0886-1544
    Keywords: binding of caldesmon to myosin ; actin-activated ATPase activity of myosin ; actin-myosin interaction with in vitro motility assay ; myosin-binding domain of caldesmon ; Life and Medical Sciences ; Cell & Developmental Biology
    Source: Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: We reported previously that smooth muscle caldesmon stimulates the ATP-de-pendent interaction between actin and phosphorylated smooth muscle myosin, as monitored by ATPase measurment and in vitro motility assay. Furthermore, this effect changes from stimulatory to inhibitory with increasing concentrations of caldesmon [Ishikawa et al., 1991: J. Biol. Chem. 266:21784-21790]. The N-terminal (myosin-binding) fragment and the C-terminal (actin-binding) fragment were purified from digests of caldesmon. The effects of the myosin-binding fragment and the actin-binding fragment on the interaction were stimulatory and inhibitory, respectively, indicating that stimulatory and inhibitory domains are localized in the myosin-binding domain and actin-binding domain of caldesmon, respectively. The effect of the myosin-binding fragment on the interaction was exclusively stimulatory when the interaction was challenged by caldesmon, both at lower and higher concentrations. However, the actin-binding fragment had no effect on the interaction at lower concentrations and inhibited the interaction at higher concentrations. Thus, the stimulatory effect of caldesmon that is observed at lower concentrations can be explained by the hypothesis that the stimulatory effect of the myosin-binding domain predominates over the inhibitory effect of the actin-binding domain when the concentration of caldesmon is low. With uncleaved caldesmon, we also emphasized the role of the myosin-binding domain in the stimulation as follows; the stimulatory effect of caldesmon became obscured when binding of caldesmon to myosin was competed by the exogenous caldesmon-binding fragment of myosin. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
    Additional Material: 6 Ill.
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  • 9
    ISSN: 1615-6102
    Keywords: Motility ; Calcium control ; Chara ; Physarum polycephalum ; Myosin ; Actin filaments
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology
    Notes: Summary The actin-activated ATPase activityPhysarum myosin was shown to be inhibited of μM levels of Ca2+. To determine if Ca2+ regulates ATP-dependent movement ofPhysarum myosin on actin, latex beads coated withPhysarum myosin were introduced intoChara cells by intracellular perfusion. In perfusion solution containing EGTA, the beads moved along the parallel arrays ofChara actin filaments at a rate of 1.0–1.8 μm/sec; however, in perfusion solution containing Ca2+, the rate reduced to 0.0–0.7 μm/sec. The movement of beads coated with scallop myosin, whose actin-activated ATPase activity is activated by Ca2+, was observed only in the perfusion solution containing Ca2+, indicating that myosin is responsible for the inhibitory effect of Ca2+ onPhysarum myosin movement. The involvement of this myosin-linked regulation in the inhibitory effect of Ca2+ on the cytoplasmic streaming observed inChara internodal cell andPhysarum plasmodium was discussed.
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