Actin-based Motility Cellular, Molecular and Physical Aspects
This book presents the cellular, molecular and physical aspects of force and movement by the self-assembly of actin, one of the most abundant proteins found in cells, into cytoskeletal filaments. « Actin-based motile processes » are responsible for a larg
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Marie-France Carlier Editor
Actin-based Motility Cellular, Molecular and Physical Aspects
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Editor Dr. Marie-France Carlier CNRS Laboratory of Structural Enzymology and Biochemistry 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex UPR 3082 CNRS - Bât. 34 France [email protected]
ISBN 978-90-481-9300-4 e-ISBN 978-90-481-9301-1 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-9301-1 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2010935449 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
Since the discovery of actin by Straub in the 1950’s and the pioneering work of Oosawa on actin self-assembly in helical filaments in the 1960’s, many books and conference proceedings have been published. As one of the most essential proteins in life, essential for movement in organisms rangingfrom bacteria to higher eukaryotes, it is no surprise that actin has fascinated generations of scientists from many different fields. Actin can be considered as a “living treasure” of biology; the kinetics and thermodynamics of self-assembly, the dissipative nature of actin polymerization, the molecular interactions of monomeric and polymerized actin with regulators, the mechanical properties of actin gels, and more recently the force producing motile and morphogenetic processes organized by the actin nanomachine in response to signaling, are all milestones in actin research. Discoveries that directly derive from and provide deeper insight into the fundamental properties of actin are constantly being made, making actin an ever appealing research molecule. At the same time, the explosion in new technologies and techniques in biological sciences has served to attract researchers from an expanding number of disciplines, to study actin. This book presents the latest developments of these new multiscale approaches of force and movement powered by self-assembly processes, with the hope to opening our perspectives on the many areas of actin-based motility research. Three sections, focusing on the cellular, molecular and physical aspects of actin-based motility, provide examples of the main cellular processes in which actin self-assembly drives movement and changes the shape of cells. Emphasis is given on how the analysis of molecular interactions of actin with regulators of filament assembly enabled the reconstitution of self-organized motile systems. Physical and mathematical models give a formal description of force production by such actin assemblies. In various chapters, insight is provided into novel cell imaging technologies, high resoluti
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