Senior Research Fellow (SRF), Biomolecular Electronics and Nanotechnology Division (BEND), Central Scientific Instruments Organization (CSIO), Chandigarh, India.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2011 Jun 1;48(5):793-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2011.03.004. Epub 2011 Mar 22.
In this paper we explored the effect of copper sulphate on the morphology of actin filaments. Actin filaments attain different shapes and structure when exposed to 2mM concentration of copper sulphate. Lateral branches were observed after 4 h of incubation while shapes like Y- and V- were formed after 8h of incubation. Rings and loops of actin filaments were formed when the concentration of copper sulphate was increased from 2 to 5 mM. Additionally, ring formation was also observed when bead tailed actin filaments were incubated with copper sulphate (5 mM). Electrostatic adhesion energy between ends of actin filaments attracted due to counterion was estimated to be 7.34 kT/μm. Divalent cation induced actin ring formation are similar to toroids of DNA but actin filaments have great bending stiffness due to large diameter of the ring formed. From these results we proposed that polyelectrolyte nature of actin filaments leads to the change in their morphology on exposure to high concentration divalent cations.
在本文中，我们探讨了硫酸铜对肌动蛋白丝形态的影响。当暴露于 2mM 浓度的硫酸铜时，肌动蛋白丝会呈现出不同的形状和结构。孵育 4 小时后观察到侧枝，而孵育 8 小时后则形成 Y 形和 V 形。当硫酸铜浓度从 2mM 增加到 5mM 时，形成了肌动蛋白丝的环和环。当用硫酸铜（5mM）孵育珠尾肌动蛋白丝时，也观察到了环的形成。由于抗衡离子，肌动蛋白丝末端之间的静电粘附能估计为 7.34kT/μm。二价阳离子诱导的肌动蛋白环形成类似于 DNA 的环，但由于形成的环的直径较大，肌动蛋白丝具有很大的弯曲刚度。根据这些结果，我们提出肌动蛋白丝的聚电解质性质导致其在暴露于高浓度二价阳离子时形态发生变化。
