ArticlePLoS biology2020
Structure of the Lifeact-F-actin complex.
Article in PLoS biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- Actin conformation dynamics precede force generation in cytotoxic T lymphocytes.Communications biology · 2026Article
- KDAC6 alters cell morphology and motility through positive and negative modulation of F-actin distribution.FEBS open bio · 2026Article
- Evolutionarily conserved short linear motifs drive actin filament binding.Nature cell biology · 2026Article
- Dispensable players: N-WASP and WASP are not crucial for homology-directed DNA repair.EMBO reports · 2026Article
- Force-modulated structural landscape of the catch bonding F-actin crosslinker α-actinin-4.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Actin arginylation alters myosin engagement and F-actin patterning despite structural conservation.The Journal of cell biology · 2026Article
- Cross-presentation of dead cell-associated antigens shapes the neoantigenic landscape of tumor immunity.Nature immunology · 2026Article
- An acentrosomal aster with atypical microtubule polarity recruits cytokinesis signals to its center in Xenopus egg extracts.Journal of cell science · 2025Article
- Cryo-EM structure revealed a novel F-actin binding motif in abioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The actin module of endocytic internalization in Aspergillus nidulans: A critical role of the WISH/DIP/SPIN90 family protein Dip1.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- Liquid-like condensates that bind actin promote assembly and bundling of actin filaments.Developmental cell · 2025Article
- Structure of the F-tractin-F-actin complex.The Journal of cell biology · 2025Article
- Multiple Mechanisms to Regulate Actin Functions: "Fundamental" Versus Lineage-Specific Mechanisms and Hierarchical Relationships.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Nuclear N-WASP Induces Actin Polymerization in the Nucleus with Cortactin as an Essential Factor.Cells · 2025Article
- Editorial: Cell structure and dynamics in the nematodeFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Article
- The open to closed D-loop conformational switch determines length in filopodia-like actin bundles.The Biochemical journal · 2024Article
- Cracked actin filaments as mechanosensitive receptors.Biophysical journal · 2024Article
- Improved tools for live imaging of F-actin structures in yeast.Molecular biology of the cell · 2024Article
- Turn-on protein switches for controlling actin binding in cells.Nature communications · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Lifeact is a short actin-binding peptide that is used to visualize filamentous actin (F-actin) structures in live eukaryotic cells using fluorescence microscopy. However, this popular probe has been shown to alter cellular morphology by affecting the structure of the cytoskeleton. The molecular basis for such artefacts is poorly understood. Here, we determined the high-resolution structure of the Lifeact-F-actin complex using electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM). The structure reveals that Lifeact interacts with a hydrophobic binding pocket on F-actin and stretches over 2 adjacent actin subunits, stabilizing the DNase I-binding loop (D-loop) of actin in the closed conformation. Interestingly, the hydrophobic binding site is also used by actin-binding proteins, such as cofilin and myosin and actin-binding toxins, such as the hypervariable region of TccC3 (TccC3HVR) from Photorhabdus luminescens and ExoY from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In vitro binding assays and activity measurements demonstrate that Lifeact indeed competes with these proteins, providing an explanation for the altering effects of Lifeact on cell morphology in vivo. Finally, we demonstrate that the affinity of Lifeact to F-actin can be increased by introducing mutations into the peptide, laying the foundation for designing improved actin probes for live cell imaging.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.