Actin News and Research

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New insight into the expression of microRNAs

Two independent, upcoming G&D papers lend new insight into the expression of microRNAs and their targets during vertebrate development.

25 Feb 2009

Researchers study Actin - a globular protein

Actin, a globular protein found in all eukaryotic cells, is a workhorse that varies remarkably little from baker's yeast to the human body.

20 Feb 2009

Fibroblasts invade at a snail's pace

A transcription factor known to drive the formation of fibroblasts during development also promotes their ability to invade and remodel surrounding tissues, report Rowe et al. in the February 9, 2009 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.

2 Feb 2009

How loss or mutation of LMNA gene causes Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy

Mutations in the nuclear intermediate filament lamin A/C (LMNA) gene are associated with Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy, but cause the disease by unknown mechanisms.

5 Jan 2009

New discovery on cell division could improve chemotherapies for cancer

Researchers from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a key step required for cell division in a study that could help improve therapies to treat cancer.

10 Dec 2008

New insights into cell division

Biologists have discovered a mechanism that is critical to cytokinesis -- nature's completion of mitosis, where a cell divides into two identical daughter cells.

5 Dec 2008

First study showing how protein fine-tunes the heart

Dr Andrew Whitten, Dr Cy Jeffries and Professor Jill Trewhella, from the School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, University of Sydney, with Samantha Harris, from the University of California, USA, have the first data showing how a protein in heart muscle cells works to maintain regular heart function.

27 Nov 2008

Scientists find cells reorganize shape to fit situation

Flip open any biology textbook and you're bound to see a complicated diagram of the inner workings of a cell, with its internal scaffolding, the cytoskeleton, and how it maintains a cell's shape.

24 Nov 2008

Stem cells from umbilical cord blood may help build new heart valves

Children with heart defects may someday receive perfectly-matched new heart valves built using stem cells from their umbilical cord blood, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2008.

11 Nov 2008

Scientists identify a molecule that coordinates the movement of cells

Even cells commute. To get from their birthplace to their work site, they sequentially attach to and detach from an elaborate track of exceptionally strong proteins known as the extracellular matrix. Now, in research to appear in the October 3 issue of Cell, scientists at Rockefeller University show that a molecule, called ACF7, helps regulate and power this movement from the inside - findings that could have implications for understanding how cancer cells metastasize.

2 Oct 2008

Researchers discover protein leiomodin promotes the assembly of an important heart muscle protein actin

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a protein called leiomodin (Lmod) promotes the assembly of an important heart muscle protein called actin.

11 Apr 2008

A diaphanous control during embryo formation

The research now published in the journal Development shows how Dia mutations in fruit flies embryos result in a serious of defects during morphogenesis (process by which cells differentiate into tissues and structures), including loss of adhesion, abnormal movements and even migration of cells from one tissue to another.

9 Apr 2008

Turning off rogue macrophages

University of Pennsylvania scientists studying macrophages, the biological cells that spring from white blood cells to eat and destroy foreign or dying cells, have discovered how these "policemen" differentiate between friend and foe.

12 Mar 2008

How a red blood cell loses its nucleus

Unlike the rest of the cells in your body, your red blood cells lack nuclei.

17 Feb 2008

How red blood cells nuke their nuclei

Unlike the rest of the cells in your body, your red blood cells lack nuclei.

12 Feb 2008

Researchers find new way to block destructive rush of immune cells

Researchers have found a way to selectively block the ability of white blood cells to "crawl" toward the sites of injury and infection when such mobility drives disease, according to a study published today in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

15 Jan 2008

High blood pressure gene found

Scientists have identified the gene that sets off a sequence of events in the blood vessels of otherwise healthy adults that can lead to high blood pressure.

11 Jan 2008

Insights into cell movement likely to aid immune study, cancer research

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have used yeast cells to better understand a collection of proteins associated with the formation of actin networks, which are essential to cell movement.

9 Jan 2008

New understanding of actin networks

Dynamic networks of growing actin filaments are critical for many cellular processes, including cell migration, intracellular transport, and the recovery of proteins from the cell surface.

4 Jan 2008

How molecular muscles help cells divide

Time-lapse videos and computer simulations provide the first concrete molecular explanation of how a cell flexes tiny muscle-like structures to pinch itself into two daughter cells at the end of each cell division, according to a report in Science Express.

17 Dec 2007