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Title: Hyper-mobility of water around actin filaments revealed using pulse-field gradient spin-echo {sup 1}H NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy

Journal Article · · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
 [1]; ; ;  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Department of Materials Processing, Graduate School of Tohoku University, 6-6-02 Aobayama, Aoba-Ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579 (Japan)
  2. Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, 3-1 Yamada-Oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 (Japan)

Research highlights: {yields} Translationally hyper-mobile water has been detected around actin filaments. {yields} Translationally hyper-mobile water is formed upon polymerization of actin. {yields} Low water viscosity was found around F-actin using fluorescence anisotropy. {yields} Formation of hyper-mobile water may explain endothermic actin polymerization. -- Abstract: This paper reports that water molecules around F-actin, a polymerized form of actin, are more mobile than those around G-actin or in bulk water. A measurement using pulse-field gradient spin-echo {sup 1}H NMR showed that the self-diffusion coefficient of water in aqueous F-actin solution increased with actin concentration by {approx}5%, whereas that in G-actin solution was close to that of pure water. This indicates that an F-actin/water interaction is responsible for the high self-diffusion of water. The local viscosity around actin was also investigated by fluorescence measurements of Cy3, a fluorescent dye, conjugated to Cys 374 of actin. The steady-state fluorescence anisotropy of Cy3 attached to F-actin was 0.270, which was lower than that for G-actin, 0.334. Taking into account the fluorescence lifetimes of the Cy3 bound to actin, their rotational correlation times were estimated to be 3.8 and 9.1 ns for F- and G-actin, respectively. This indicates that Cy3 bound to F-actin rotates more freely than that bound to G-actin, and therefore the local water viscosity is lower around F-actin than around G-actin.

OSTI ID:
22204769
Journal Information:
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol. 404, Issue 4; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0006-291X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English