Nonlinear increase of elongation rate of actin filaments with actin monomer concentration

The nonlinear increase of the elongation rate of actin filaments above the critical monomer concentration was investigated by nucleated polymerization of actin. Significant deviations from linearity were observed when actin was polymerized in the presence of magnesium ions. When magnesium ions were replaced by potassium or calcium ions, no deviations from linearity could be detected. The nonlinearity was analyzed by two simple assembly mechanisms. In the first model, if the ATP hydrolysis by polymeric actin is approximately as fast as the incorporation of monomers into filaments, terminal subunits of lengthening filaments are expected to carry to some extent ADP. As ADP-containing subunits dissociate from the ends of actin filaments faster than ATP-containing subunits, the rate of elongation of actin filaments would be nonlinearly correlated with the monomer concentration. In the second model (conformational change model), actin monomers and filament subunits were assumed to occur in two conformations. The association and dissociation rates of actin molecules in the two conformations were thought to be different. The equilibrium distribution between the two conformations was assumed to be different for monomers and filament subunits. The ATP hydrolysis was thought to lag behind polymerization and conformational change. As under the experimental conditions the rate of ATP hydrolysis by polymeric actin was independent of the concentration of filament ends, the observed nonlinear increase of the rate of elongation with the monomer concentration above the critical monomer concentration was unlikely to be caused by ATP hydrolysis at the terminal subunits. The conformational change model turned out to be the simplest assembly mechanism by which all available experimental data could be explained.