Abstract
Filopodia are thin actin rich membrane protrusion that allow cells to interactively probe their environment by periodic protrusion and shrinkage interrupted by occasional kinks. Filopodial actin is thought to play a pivotal role in filopodial force transduction, bending, and rotation. We investigated whether, and how, actin within filopodia is responsible for filopodia dynamics by conducting simultaneous force spectroscopy and confocal fluorescent imaging of F-actin in membrane protrusions. The actin shafts frequently undergo buckling and rotational motion which was correlated with retrograde movement of actin inside the filopodium. Pulling on an object attached to the filopodium tip strongly correlated with the presence of actin near the tip region and pulling forces were found to be correlated with movement of buckles along the actin shaft. We propose a mechanism that is based on accumulation of torsional twist in the rotating actin shaft and consequently leads to torsional induced buckling and shortening of the actin shaft.
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