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Symmetry breaking in reconstituted actin cortices
The actin cortex plays a pivotal role in cell division, in generating and maintaining cell polarity and in motility. In all these contexts, the cortical network has to break symmetry to generate polar cytoskeletal dynamics. Despite extensive research, the mechanisms responsible for regulating cortic...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
2014
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3996625/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24843007 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01433 |
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author | Abu Shah, Enas Keren, Kinneret |
author_facet | Abu Shah, Enas Keren, Kinneret |
author_sort | Abu Shah, Enas |
collection | PubMed |
description | The actin cortex plays a pivotal role in cell division, in generating and maintaining cell polarity and in motility. In all these contexts, the cortical network has to break symmetry to generate polar cytoskeletal dynamics. Despite extensive research, the mechanisms responsible for regulating cortical dynamics in vivo and inducing symmetry breaking are still unclear. Here we introduce a reconstituted system that self-organizes into dynamic actin cortices at the inner interface of water-in-oil emulsions. This artificial system undergoes spontaneous symmetry breaking, driven by myosin-induced cortical actin flows, which appears remarkably similar to the initial polarization of the embryo in many species. Our in vitro model system recapitulates the rich dynamics of actin cortices in vivo, revealing the basic biophysical and biochemical requirements for cortex formation and symmetry breaking. Moreover, this synthetic system paves the way for further exploration of artificial cells towards the realization of minimal model systems that can move and divide. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01433.001 |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3996625 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-39966252014-04-30 Symmetry breaking in reconstituted actin cortices Abu Shah, Enas Keren, Kinneret eLife Biophysics and Structural Biology The actin cortex plays a pivotal role in cell division, in generating and maintaining cell polarity and in motility. In all these contexts, the cortical network has to break symmetry to generate polar cytoskeletal dynamics. Despite extensive research, the mechanisms responsible for regulating cortical dynamics in vivo and inducing symmetry breaking are still unclear. Here we introduce a reconstituted system that self-organizes into dynamic actin cortices at the inner interface of water-in-oil emulsions. This artificial system undergoes spontaneous symmetry breaking, driven by myosin-induced cortical actin flows, which appears remarkably similar to the initial polarization of the embryo in many species. Our in vitro model system recapitulates the rich dynamics of actin cortices in vivo, revealing the basic biophysical and biochemical requirements for cortex formation and symmetry breaking. Moreover, this synthetic system paves the way for further exploration of artificial cells towards the realization of minimal model systems that can move and divide. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01433.001 eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2014-04-29 /pmc/articles/PMC3996625/ /pubmed/24843007 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01433 Text en Copyright © 2014, Abu Shah and Keren http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Biophysics and Structural Biology Abu Shah, Enas Keren, Kinneret Symmetry breaking in reconstituted actin cortices |
title | Symmetry breaking in reconstituted actin cortices |
title_full | Symmetry breaking in reconstituted actin cortices |
title_fullStr | Symmetry breaking in reconstituted actin cortices |
title_full_unstemmed | Symmetry breaking in reconstituted actin cortices |
title_short | Symmetry breaking in reconstituted actin cortices |
title_sort | symmetry breaking in reconstituted actin cortices |
topic | Biophysics and Structural Biology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3996625/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24843007 http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01433 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT abushahenas symmetrybreakinginreconstitutedactincortices AT kerenkinneret symmetrybreakinginreconstitutedactincortices |