Grant: Project Grant

Human cells take on a large range of shapes that are important for fulfilling specific biological functions. Cells can change their shape based on particular stimuli by altering components of the cell's inner skeleton, called the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton is composed of, in part, a dynamic meshwork of a protein called actin that forms filaments underneath the cell membrane. Human cells express 6 different types of actins, and disruption or over-production of specific actin forms is linked to a large number of human diseases, including cancer, heart disease and severe muscle weakness. The different actins make separate structures and are suggested to have different functions in the cell by directing shape changes at just one part of the cell. How the different actin structures do this is unknown. We propose to identify the molecules that make the different actin cytoskeletons and position them in specific regions of the cell. We anticipate that these data will provide new insight into the early stages of disease.