Product Uses Include
- Identification and characterization of muscle actin binding proteins
- In vitro actin polymerization studies
- Antibody standard for Western blot analysis
MaterialActin protein has been purified from rabbit skeletal muscle. AKL99 actin is greater than 99% pure and AKL95 is greater than 95% pure. Muscle actin has an approximate molecular weight of 43 kDa. Rabbit muscle actin is supplied as a white lyophilized powder. The lyophilized protein when stored desiccated to <10% humidity at 4°C is stable for 6 months. When reconstituted in distilled water to 10 mg/ml, the protein is in the following buffer: 5 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.0, 0.2 mM CaCl2, 0.2 mM ATP, 5% sucrose, and 1% dextran.PurityProtein purity is determined by scanning densitometry of Coomassie Blue stained protein on a 12% polyacrylamide gel. AKL99 consists of > 99% pure muscle actin while AKL95 is > 95% pure (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Purities of rabbit skeletal muscle actin protein. 100 µg of > 99% pure (AKL99) and > 95% pure (AKL95) rabbit skeletal muscle actin were run on SDS-PAGE gels and stained with coomassie blue. The arrow indicates actin protein, the arrowhead an α-actinin contaminant (115 kDa). The minor impurities in the purified actins are predominantly actin binding proteins such as α-actinin and gelsolin.
Biological ActivityThe biological activity of muscle actinis determined by its ability to efficiently polymerize into filaments (F-actin) in vitro and separate from unpolymerized components in a spin down assay. Stringent quality control ensures that AKL99 produces > 90% F-actin and AKL95 produces > 80% F-actin in this assay.
For product Datasheets and MSDSs please click on the PDF links below. For additional information, click on the FAQs tab above or contact our Technical Support department at tservice@cytoskeleton.com
Cheng, Y.-S. et al. The load dependence and the force-velocity relation in intact myosin filaments from skeletal and smooth muscles. Am. J. Physiol. Physiol. 318, C103–C110 (2020).
Farhadi, L. et al. Actin and microtubule crosslinkers tune mobility and control co-localization in a composite cytoskeletal network. Soft Matter 16, 7191–7201 (2020).
Ricketts, S. N. et al. Triggering Cation-Induced Contraction of Cytoskeleton Networks via Microfluidics. Front. Phys. 8, 494 (2020).
Liao, K. A., González-Morales, N. & Schöck, F. Characterizing the actin-binding ability of Zasp52 and its contribution to myofibril assembly. PLoS One 15, e0232137 (2020).
Liang, X. et al. Transgelin 2 is required for embryo implantation by promoting actin polymerization. FASEB J. 33, 5667–5675 (2019).
Cheng, Yu-Shu et al. Cleavage of loops 1 and 2 in skeletal muscle heavy meromyosin (HMM) leads to a decreased function. Archives of biochemistry and biophysics vol. 661 (2019): 168-177. doi:10.1016/j.abb.2018.11.002
Kommaddi, R. P. et al. Aβ mediates F-actin disassembly in dendritic spines leading to cognitive deficits in alzheimer’s disease. J. Neurosci. 38, 1085–1099 (2018).
Jensen et al., 2012. Effects of Basic Calponin on the Flexural Mechanics and Stability of F-Actin. Cytoskeleton. v 69, pp 49–58.
Butler et al., 2012. Inhibitory effects of pectenotoxins from marine algae on the polymerization of various actin isoforms. Toxicol. In Vitro. v 26, pp 493-499.
Zhang et al., 2011. Growth-Arrest-Specific Protein 2 Inhibits Cell Division in Xenopus Embryos. PLoS ONE. 6:e24698.
Windhorst et al., 2011. Functional role of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate-3-kinase-A for motility of malignant transformed cells. Int. J. Cancer. v 129, pp 1300-1309.
Choi et al., 2010. Expression of actin-interacting protein 1 suppresses impaired chemotaxis of Dictyostelium cells lacking the Na-H exchanger NHE1. Mol. Biol. Cell. v 21. pp 3162-3170.
Arora et al., 2004. Gelsolin mediates collagen phagocytosis through a rac-dependent step. Mol. Biol. Cell. v 15, pp 588-599.
Ishikawa et al., 2004. Subdomain organization of the Acanthamoeba myosin IC tail from cryo-electron microscopy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. v 101, pp 12189-12194.
Balcer et al., 2003. Coordinated regulation of actin filament turnover by a high-molecular-weight Srv2/CAP complex, cofilin, profilin, and Aip1. Curr. Biol. v 13, pp 2159-2169.
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Question 1: What is the best way to store actin proteins to insure maximum stability and shelf-life?
Answer 1: Cytoskeleton provides all of our actin proteins as lyophilized powders so that they can be shipped at room temperature. Upon receipt, the lyophilized powders should be stored at 4°C in a sealed container with desiccant. It is important to monitor the freshness of the desiccant and insure that it continues to absorb moisture to protect the lyophilized actins. With proper storage, the lyophilized actins are guaranteed to be stable for 6 months from the date of purchase. Alternatively, actins can be immediately resuspended at the concentration recommended, aliquoted, snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -70°C. The frozen aliquots will be stable for 6 months. When thawing frozen aliquots, it is important to thaw in a room temperature water bath.
Question 2: What is the best way to store F-actin after polymerizing?
Answer 2: G-actin is stable for two days at 4°C and requires a divalent cation, pH 6.5 - 8.0 and ATP for stability. F-actin is stable and can be stored at 4°C for 1-2 weeks. F-actin requires ATP (0.2 mM) and Mg2+ (2 mM) for stability and is unstable below pH 6.5 and above pH 8.5. F-actin is not stable to freezing. F-actin can be transferred to a variety of buffers (e.g. HEPES, phosphate, etc) without detrimental effects. We recommend the addition of antibacterial agents such as 100 μg/ml ampicillin and 10 μg/ml chloramphenicol when storing F-actin at 4°C.
If you have any questions concerning this product, please contact our Technical Service department at tservice@cytoskeleton.com.
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