Studies on the interaction between actin and cofilin purified by a new method.

Cofilin is a 21,000-Mr actin-binding protein that widely exists in mammalian tissues. (1) A new purification procedure for porcine brain cofilin has been developed that involves (NH4)2SO4 fractionation and sequential chromatographies on Toyo Pearl and butyl-Toyo Pearl hydrophobic columns, hydroxyapatite, phosphocellulose and Sephadex G-75 gel-filtration columns. The purified cofilin bound to F-actin and increased the amount of G-actin to a limited extent, as previously reported [Nishida, Maekawa & Sakai (1984) Biochemistry 23, 5307-5313]. (2) The binding of cofilin to F-actin was scarcely affected by Mg2+, Ca2+ or by calmodulin. However, the binding was diminished by increasing concentrations of KCl, but was only slightly affected by temperature. (3) Cofilin and either alpha-actinin or filamin could bind to F-actin simultaneously with some competition, but the binding of caldesmon to F-actin was markedly inhibited by cofilin. Phalloidin inhibited the binding of cofilin to F-actin, and protected F-actin from depolymerization by cofilin.