Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Using Microfluidics and Fluorescence Microscopy to Study the Assembly Dynamics of Single Actin Filaments and Bundles
Published on: May 5, 2022
Structure of actin cross-linked with alpha-actinin: a network of bundles
O Pelletier1, E Pokidysheva, L S Hirst
1Materials Department, Biomolecular Science and Engineering Program, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
Abstract:
Three-dimensional laser scanning confocal microscopy has revealed that filamentous actin, when complexed with the cross-linking protein alpha-actinin, will spontaneously assemble on a micron scale into a structure comprised of a relatively rigid, frequently branching, 3D network of bundles with characteristic mesh size of the order of the persistence length of F-actin. In contrast, additional nanoscale ordering is observed, as synchrotron x-ray diffraction has revealed a disordered, distorted square lattice of actin fibers within the individual bundles.
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