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PMID: 17685442 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Versatile fluorescent probes for actin filaments based on the actin-binding domain of utrophin.

Cell motility and the cytoskeleton ·Vol. 64 ·No. 11 ·2007-11-00 ·Pages 822-32

Burkel BM, von Dassow G, Bement WM

Abstract

Actin filaments (F-actin) are protein polymers that undergo rapid assembly and disassembly and control an enormous variety of cellular processes ranging from force production to regulation of signal transduction. Consequently, imaging of F-actin has become an increasingly important goal for biologists seeking to understand how cells and tissues function. However, most of the available means for imaging F-actin in living cells suffer from one or more biological or experimental shortcomings. Here we describe fluorescent F-actin probes based on the calponin homology domain of utrophin (Utr-CH), which binds F-actin without stabilizing it in vitro. We show that these probes faithfully report the distribution of F-actin in living and fixed cells, distinguish between stable and dynamic F-actin, and have no obvious effects on processes that depend critically on the balance of actin assembly and disassembly.

MeSH Terms
Actin Cytoskeleton/metabolism Animals Female Fluorescent Antibody Technique/methods Fluorescent Dyes/metabolism Humans Microfilament Proteins/metabolism Photobleaching Protein Structure, Tertiary Utrophin/metabolism Xenopus
Chemicals
Fluorescent Dyes Microfilament Proteins Utrophin
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Burkel Brian M
Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
von Dassow George
Bement William M
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Article Info
Journal
Cell motility and the cytoskeleton
Abbr.
Cell Motil Cytoskeleton
ISSN
0886-1544
DOI
10.1002/cm.20226
Published
2007-11-00
Pages
822-32
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8605339
PMCID
PMC4364136
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM052932 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · P50 GM066050 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM52932 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM66050 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM052932-09 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1002/cm.20226 PMC Full Text View journal details
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