We present an interactive COMSOL web application that allows both expert and non-expert users to numerically evaluate the electric potential, ionic concentration distribution, velocity profile, and ionic current along a molecular structure surface characterizing actin filaments. This online computational and visualization tool runs on a high performance server (http://marucholab.physics.utsa.edu:2036), that enables users to perform multiple analyses and comparisons without compromising computational resources. As a unique feature, the multiphysics formulation accounts for the filament surface roughness, the finite filament size, and the ionic condensation, providing a deeper understanding of the electrochemical phenomena taking place at the interface between the irregular charged shape of the filament and its biological environment. Overall, the interactive component allows investigators to characterize polyelectrolyte properties of healthy and abnormal actin filaments in physiological and pathological conditions.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9757808 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2022.101259 | DOI Listing |
Background: CHRFAM7A is a human-restricted gene associated with neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. The translated CHRFAM7A protein incorporates into the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) leading to a hypomorphic receptor. Mechanistic insight from isogenic iPSC derived neuronal and mononuclear cells demonstrated that CHRFAM7A affects Ca signaling and activates small GTPase Rac1 leading to an actin cytoskeleton gain of function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiol Open
January 2025
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
Epithelial cell cohesion and barrier function critically depend on α-catenin, an actin-binding protein and essential constituent of cadherin-catenin-based adherens junctions. α-catenin undergoes actomyosin force-dependent unfolding of both actin-binding and middle domains to strongly engage actin filaments and its various effectors; this mechanosensitivity is critical for adherens junction function. We previously showed that α-catenin is highly phosphorylated in an unstructured region that links the mechanosensitive middle and actin-binding domains (known as the P-linker region), but the cellular processes that promote α-catenin phosphorylation have remained elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Understanding the fundamental differences between the human and pre-human brain is a prerequisite for designing meaningful models and therapies for AD. Expressed CHRFAM7A, a human restricted gene with carrier frequency of 75% in the human population predicts profound translational significance.
Method: The physiological role of CHRFAM7A in human brain is explored using multiomics approach on 600 post mortem human brain tissue samples (ROSMAP).
Front Neurol
December 2024
Department of Physiology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States.
Auditory hair cells form precise and sensitive staircase-like actin protrusions known as stereocilia. These specialized microvilli detect deflections induced by sound through the activation of mechano-electrical transduction (MET) channels located at their tips. At rest, a small MET channel current results in a constant calcium influx which regulates the morphology of the actin cytoskeleton in the shorter 'transducing' stereocilia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomech Model Mechanobiol
January 2025
CNR Istituto Officina Dei Materiali, Area Science Park Basovizza, S.S. 14, Km 163,5, 34149, Trieste, Italy.
The organization and dynamics of the spectrin-actin membrane cytoskeleton play a crucial role in determining the mechanical properties of red blood cells (RBC). RBC are subjected to various forces that induce deformation during blood microcirculation. Such forces also regulate membrane tension, leading to Piezo1 channel activation, which is functionally linked to RBC dehydration through calcium influx and subsequent activation of Gardos channels, ultimately resulting in variations in RBC volume.
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