Reconstitution of Actin-Based Motility with Commercially Available Proteins

Many cell movements and shape changes and certain types of intracellular bacterial and organelle motility are driven by the biopolymer actin that forms a dynamic network at the surface of the cell, organelle, or bacterium. The biochemical and mechanical basis of force production during this process can be studied by reproducing actin-based movement in an acellular manner on inert surfaces such as beads that are functionalized and incubated with a controlled set of components. Under the appropriate conditions, an elastic actin network assembles at the bead surface and breaks open due to the stress generated by network growth, forming an "actin comet" that propels the bead forward. However, such experiments require the purification of a host of different actin-binding proteins, often putting them beyond the reach of non-specialists. This article details a protocol for reproducibly obtaining actin comets and motility of beads using commercially available reagents. Bead coating, bead size, and motility mixture can be altered to observe the effect on bead speed, trajectories, and other parameters. This assay can be used for testing the biochemical activities of different actin-binding proteins, and for performing quantitative physical measurements that shed light on active matter properties of actin networks. This will be a useful tool for the community, enabling the study of in vitro actin-based motility without expert knowledge in actin-binding protein purification.