Form and function of actin impacts actin health and aging. The actin cytoskeleton is a fundamental and highly conserved structure that functions in diverse cellular processes, yet its direct contribution to organismal aging remains unclear. Here, we systemati...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Rapid aging and disassembly of actin filaments from two evolutionary distant yeasts Actin is an essential cytoskeletal protein that is extremely well conserved across the tree of life. Similarities and differences in the way actin from different species self-assembles into filaments ...

interesting work revealing differences between evolutionary distant actins!

"..... ADP-actin filaments depolymerize faster and are mechanically more flexible in Saccharomyces cerevisiae compared to Schizosaccharomyces pombe. "

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Enhanced Processivity and Collective Force Production of Kinesin-1 at Low Radial Forces Kinesin-1 is a robust motor that carries intracellular cargos towards the plus ends of microtubules. However, optical trapping studies reported that kinesin-1 is a slippery motor that quickly detaches...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Active fluctuations of cytoplasmic actomyosin networks facilitate dynein-driven transport Inside cells, molecular motors transport cargo through a highly crowded cytoplasmic environment. While such an environment is assumed to hinder transport, its precise effect remains unclear. Here, we ...

Active fluctuations of cytoplasmic actomyosin networks facilitate dynein-driven transport: iScience www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

ATP-dependent actin barbed-end fluctuations at steady state | PNAS Actin networks in cells are dynamic and constantly turning over as actin subunits exchange between monomer and polymer pools. Understanding these d...

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

Filament transport supports contractile steady states of actin
networks.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

rupress.org/jcb/article/...

PANCS-spec-Binders: A system for rapidly discovering isoform- or epitope-specific binders Proteins that bind to a target protein of interest, termed "binders," are essential components of biological research reagents and therapeutics. Target proteins present multiple binding surfaces with ...

Check out our newest work! This is a story on how to get selectivity in binders - both isoform and site selectivity. Read the paper or enjoy this brief Skytorial of what we did!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

1/n

Intramolecular regulation of the MT-severing enzyme Katanin prevents futile ATP hydrolysis Joly and Pintard uncover how the enzyme Katanin avoids wasting energy during microtubule remodeling. Their findings reveal how Katanin couples activation t

Intramolecular regulation of the MT-severing enzyme Katanin prevents futile ATP hydrolysis

rupress.org/jcb/article-...

awesome postdoc opportunity alert!

Vimentin promotes actin assembly by stabilizing ATP-actin subunits at the barbed end Vimentin intermediate filaments play essential roles in maintaining cell integrity and regulating numerous cellular functions. In particular, vimentin cooperates with the actin cytoskeleton in key cel...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Myosin 2 drives actin contractility in fast-crawling species outside of the amorphean lineage Myosin 2-dependent actin contractility—the force that powers cell division and migration in animals, fungi, and other Amorphea—had been previously unknown outside this single eukaryotic group. Guest e...

Our work on Naegleria Myosin 2 is out!

Naegleria encodes 3 Myo2s which contract its actin network—the first evidence of contractile Myo2 outside of Amorphea.
Myo2 is actually widespread in Naegleria's relatives and correlates with fast cell crawling.

Read more: www.cell.com/current-biol...

We are very happy to share our new PrePrint: Myosin VI orchestrates estrogen-driven gene expression in breast
cancer cells. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We characterise how Myosin VI is a key regulator of the Estrogen Receptor. Perturbation of Myosin VI impedes ER functionality.

Class-I myosin responds to change in membrane tension during clathrin-mediated endocytosis in human induced pluripotent stem cells

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Myosin-19 and Miro Regulate Mitochondria–Endoplasmic Reticulum Contacts and Mitochondria Inner Membrane Architecture

www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/14...

Glucose-stimulated KIF5B-driven microtubule sliding organizes microtubule networks in mouse pancreatic β cells Sub-membrane microtubule array, known to prevent excessive glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, depends on kinesin-1 KIF5B, which moves microtubules to both generate and remodel this array, potential...

elifesciences.org/articles/895...

Phospho-activated non-muscle myosin IIA heavy chain supports different mechanisms of virus uptake | Journal of Virology Viral infections represent a major threat to global public health and pose a huge social and economic cost; thus, a better understanding of how cell-intrinsic factors modulate the outcome of infection...

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Optical tweezers combined with FRET tension sensor reveal force-dependent vinculin dynamics Methods to visualize and quantify the molecular responses of cells to local forces exerted at adhesions are crucial to elucidate how physical forces control cellular behavior. Of the many proteins inv...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Plasmodium falciparum Myosin F with a Rab-like tail domain localises to perinuclear membranes and associates with trafficking proteins Members of the myosin superfamily are found in all eukaryotes, including Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria. Plasmodium falciparum expresses six myosins, but apart from PfMyoA, th...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The kinesin Kip2 promotes microtubule growth using a bipartite polymerase module to deliver tubulin to microtubule plus ends Microtubules act as highways in cells, with kinesins transporting cargo and maintaining their length for cell survival. Nadalis et al. show that the yeast kinesin Kip2 promotes microtubule growth by d...

www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Post-doc position alert!

We will use #cryo-EM to decipher how a set of actin-binding proteins organises the #cytoskeleton, including during #cancer and #viral pathogenic processes.

#KCL has access to;
Krios + K3
cryoARM200 + K3
FIB-SEM
Cryo-CLEM

www.timeshighereducation.com/unijobs/list...

Non-uniform filament turnover and mechanically-driven contractility and bundle formation in disordered actomyosin networks Bundles of actin filaments with similar positions and orientations commonly occur in cytoskeletal networks. We use mathematical modelling and simulation to investigate how filament turnover and mechan...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

An actomyosin-mediated mechanical mechanism for brain neural tube elevation Embryos fold their tissues into increasingly complicated shapes during development. Cells produce and coordinate the forces needed to fold tissues through networks of F-actin and Myosin II (actomyosin...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The Myo2 adaptor Ldm1 and its receptor Ldo16 mediate actin-dependent lipid droplet motility Zhao et al. identify the molecular machinery for lipid droplet motility, consisting of the type V myosin Myo2, the Myo2 adaptor protein Ldm1, and its surface receptor Ldo16. They uncover a molecular l...

www.cell.com/cell-reports...

An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

rupress.org/jcb/article/...

YouTube video by The Biophysical Society of Japan Chika Okimura publishes an article in Biophysics and Physicobiology on 28 October, 2025.

Review Article (Invited)
Stress fiber contraction induces cell body rotation in single keratocytes.
Chika Okimura
Biophysics and Physicobiology, 2025, 22, e220023
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TSr...

Just under a month left—apply by December 5 through the link on my website!

Mechanism of Arp2/3 complex branch disassembly by human Coro7 - Nature Communications Arp2/3 complex forms branched actin networks that drive cell and organelle motility. Here, authors show that Coro7 targets branch junctions by binding Arp2/3 complex and actin filaments, promoting deb...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...