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Authors: Shyam B. Khatau, Dong-Hwee Kim, Christopher M. Hale, Ryan J. Bloom and Denis Wirtz

Shyam B. Khatau

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA; Johns Hopkins Physical Sciences in Oncology Center, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

Dong-Hwee Kim

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA; Johns Hopkins Physical Sciences in Oncology Center, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

Christopher M. Hale

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA; Johns Hopkins Physical Sciences in Oncology Center, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

Ryan J. Bloom

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

Denis Wirtz

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA; Johns Hopkins Physical Sciences in Oncology Center, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

Abstract:

We recently demonstrated the existence of a previously uncharacterized subset of actomyosin fibers that form the perinuclear actin cap, a cytoskeletal structure that tightly wraps around the nucleus of a wide range of somatic cells. Fibers in the actin cap are distinct from well-characterized, conventional actin fibers at the basal and cortical surfaces of adherent cells in their subcellular location, internal organization, dynamics, ability to generate contractile forces, response to cytoskeletal pharmacological treatments, response to biochemical stimuli, regulation by components of the linkers of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton (LINC) complexes, and response to disease-associated mutations in LMNA, the gene that encodes for the nuclear lamin component lamin A/C. The perinuclear actin cap precisely shapes the nucleus in interphase cells. The perinuclear actin cap may also be a mediator of microenvironment mechanosensing and mechanotransduction, as well as a regulator of cell motility, polarization, and differentiation.

Received: February 20, 2010; Accepted: April 23, 2010

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