Molecular investigations into the mechanics of actin in different nucleotide states

Actin plays crucial roles in the mechanical response of cells to applied forces. For example, during cell adhesion, under the action of forces transmitted through integrins, actin filaments (F-actin) induce intracellular mechanical movements leading to changes in the cell shape. Muscle contraction results from the interaction of F-actin with the molecular motor myosin. Thus, understanding the origin of actin's mechanical flexibility is required to understand the basis of fundamental cellular processes. F-actin results from the polymerization of globular actin (G-actin), which contains one tightly bound nucleotide (ATP or ADP). Experiments revealed that G-actin is more flexible than F-actin, but no molecular-level understanding of this differential behavior exists. To probe the basis of the mechanical behavior of actin, we study the force response of G-actin bound with ATP (G-ATP) or ADP (G-ADP). We investigate the global unfolding of G-actin under forces applied at its ends and its mechanical resistance along the actin-actin and actin-myosin bonds in F-actin. Our study reveals that the nucleotide plays an important role in the global unfolding of actin, leading to multiple unfolding scenarios which emphasize the differences between the G-ATP and G-ADP states. Furthermore, our simulations show that G-ATP is more flexible than G-ADP and that the actin-myosin interaction surface responds faster to force than the actin-actin interaction surface. The deformation of G-actin under tension revealed in our simulations correlates very well with experimental data on G-actin domain flexibility.