Author: ["Allen P. Liu","David L. Richmond","Lutz Maibaum","Sander Pronk","Phillip L. Geissler","Daniel A. Fletcher"]
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Abstract
Cells can change shape by reorganizing the actin filaments that make up the cytoskeleton, and this is usually achieved through protein interactions. But it seems that the cell membrane, by virtue of its elasticity, can also influence the bundling of actin filaments. Dynamic interplay between the plasma membrane and underlying cytoskeleton is essential for cellular shape change. Spatial organization of actin filaments, the growth of which generates membrane deformations during motility1, phagocytosis2, endocytosis3 and cytokinesis4, is mediated by specific protein–protein interactions that branch, crosslink and bundle filaments into networks that interact with the membrane. Although membrane curvature has been found to influence binding of proteins with curvature-sensitive domains5, the direct effect of membrane elasticity on cytoskeletal network organization is not clear. Here, we show through in vitro reconstitution and elastic modelling that a lipid bilayer can drive the emergence of bundled actin filament protrusions from branched actin filament networks, thus playing a role normally attributed to actin-binding proteins. Formation of these filopodium-like protrusions with only a minimal set of purified proteins points to an active participation of the membrane in organizing actin filaments at the plasma membrane. In this way, elastic interactions between the membrane and cytoskeleton can cooperate with accessory proteins to drive cellular shape change.Cite this article
Liu, A., Richmond, D., Maibaum, L. et al. Membrane-induced bundling of actin filaments. Nature Phys 4, 789–793 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1071 