Cells can spontaneously change shape even without external signals, but the underlying mechanisms behind this form of ...

A single human cell teems with as many 100,000 different proteins. Actin is one of the most abundant and essential of them all. This protein forms into filaments that help make up the skeleton of ...

Researchers have visualized at the molecular level how formins bind to the ends of actin filaments. This allowed them to uncover how formins mediate the addition of new actin molecules to a growing ...

Chara corallina myosin XI (CcXI) drives the movement of actin filaments, which spontaneously form ring-like structures due to a slight curvature that leads to polar alignment. Living cells are highly ...

Living cells are highly organized, yet they are not assembled using rigid blueprints or by following a predetermined plan. Instead, order emerges on its own from countless interactions between ...

Stereocilia are giant microvilli-like protrusions on sensory hair cells that are specialized to detect sound as well as linear and angular acceleration in the inner ear. The mechanosensitive function ...

Fascin cross-links actin filaments (F-actin) into bundles that support tubular membrane protrusions including filopodia and stereocilia. Fascin dysregulation drives aberrant cell migration during ...

Biophysicists have gained a new insight about the dynamics of cellular movement, which is key to processes ranging from stem-cell differentiation and wound healing to the development of diseases such ...