Frankel S, Mooseker M S
Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8103, USA.
Curr Opin Cell Biol. 1996 Feb;8(1):30-7. doi: 10.1016/s0955-0674(96)80045-7.
A family of proteins has been discovered over the past three years whose members have clear sequence homology to actin but are distinguished from actin by their structural and functional diversity. The ranks of this family, whose members are known as the actin-related proteins (arps), are expanding rapidly. Arps are but one branch of a larger superfamily which includes the actins, hsp/hsc70s, sugar kinases and several cell cycle proteins from bacteria. The existence of the superfamily has been inferred from tertiary structural data. In the case of the arps, their identification and classification has been based upon primary structural data. Placing the arps in a functional context is proving a slower process, although genetic and biochemical analyses are converging in several cases. In the past year, different arps have been linked to functions mediated by actin filaments (arp2 and arp3), microtubules (arp1) and the structural elements of chromatin (arp4 and arp6).
在过去三年中发现了一个蛋白质家族，其成员与肌动蛋白具有明显的序列同源性，但在结构和功能多样性方面与肌动蛋白有所不同。这个家族的成员被称为肌动蛋白相关蛋白（Arp），其数量正在迅速增加。Arp只是一个更大的超家族的一个分支，该超家族包括肌动蛋白、热休克蛋白/热稳定蛋白70（Hsp/Hsc70）、糖激酶以及几种来自细菌的细胞周期蛋白。超家族的存在是根据三级结构数据推断出来的。就Arp而言，它们的鉴定和分类是基于一级结构数据。将Arp置于功能背景中证明是一个较慢的过程，尽管在一些情况下遗传分析和生化分析正在趋于一致。在过去的一年里，不同的Arp已被证明与肌动蛋白丝（Arp2和Arp3）、微管（Arp1）以及染色质的结构元件（Arp4和Arp6）介导的功能有关。
