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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...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Abu Shah, Enas, Keren, Kinneret
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 2014
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
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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
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