Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics

      IBS Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics

■        SPEAKER
Prof. Jie Yan (Mechanobiology Institute, National Uni. of Singapore)

■        TITLE
Formins sense both force and torque during formin-dependent actin filament polymerization

■        ABSTRACT
Formins, an important family of force-bearing actin-polymerizing factors, function as homodimers that bind the barbed end of actin filaments through a ring-like structure assembled from dimerized FH2 domains. In this work, we used transverse magnetic tweezers [1] to apply force to a single formin attached to a single actin filament. We found that physiological level of forces could drastically speed up the actin polymerization rate. Further, we found that this force-promoted actin polymerization required torsionally unconstrained actin filament, suggesting that formins also sense torque in the actin filament [2]. As actin filaments are subject to complex dynamic mechanical constraints in living cells, these results provide important insights into how formin/profilin-mediated actin polymerization is regulated by these mechanical constraints.

■        DATE AND VENUE
November 10, 2017 (Friday, 4:00 - 5:00 pm)  

Seminar Room 116, KU R&D Center

■        LANGUAGE
English

■        INVITED BY
Prof. Seok-Cheol Hong

 *If you want to have dinner with Prof. Jie Yan, please contact to Prof. Seok-Cheol Hong(hong1sc@gmail.com)