| First Author | Belyantseva IA | Year | 2009 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 106 |
| Issue | 24 | Pages | 9703-8 |
| PubMed ID | 19497859 | Mgi Jnum | J:150067 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3849641 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.0900221106 |
| Citation | Belyantseva IA, et al. (2009) Gamma-actin is required for cytoskeletal maintenance but not development. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106(24):9703-8 |
| abstractText | Beta(cyto)-actin and gamma(cyto)-actin are ubiquitous proteins thought to be essential building blocks of the cytoskeleton in all non-muscle cells. Despite this widely held supposition, we show that gamma(cyto)-actin null mice (Actg1(-/-)) are viable. However, they suffer increased mortality and show progressive hearing loss during adulthood despite compensatory up-regulation of beta(cyto)-actin. The surprising viability and normal hearing of young Actg1(-/-) mice means that beta(cyto)-actin can likely build all essential non-muscle actin-based cytoskeletal structures including mechanosensory stereocilia of hair cells that are necessary for hearing. Although gamma(cyto)-actin-deficient stereocilia form normally, we found that they cannot maintain the integrity of the stereocilia actin core. In the wild-type, gamma(cyto)-actin localizes along the length of stereocilia but re-distributes to sites of F-actin core disruptions resulting from animal exposure to damaging noise. In Actg1(-/-) stereocilia similar disruptions are observed even without noise exposure. We conclude that gamma(cyto)-actin is required for reinforcement and long-term stability of F-actin-based structures but is not an essential building block of the developing cytoskeleton. |
