Acting the Part

Actin – a protein that forms strands or filaments within our cells – plays a part in many different processes, including cell division, signalling, adhesion, and movement, and in the maintenance of the cell shape as part of the cytoskeleton. When a cell divides or moves, the cytoskeleton arranges into a very precise structure. Organisation of actin filaments is not only determined by the properties of the actin and its associated proteins, but also by geometric constraints. Using computer simulations, researchers have looked at how this protein network forms. They found that the way the filaments interact with each other, their stretchiness and their ability to trigger the assembly of fresh actin fibres were all important. Pictured is a composite of computer simulation images of the actin filaments, representing all those important elements during their organisation.

Written by Katie Panteli

Katie Panteli

Writer

Katie, a Warwick Biomed graduate, works for a science-publishing house in London with some of the world's most respected scientific minds. She's most interested in human biology, anything and everything that makes us tick.

• Image from work by Gaëlle Letort and colleagues
• iRTSV, France
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in PLOS Computational Biology, May 2015