What are actin fibers?
actin filaments, also known as microfilaments, are thin support fibers produced from protein actin chains that are present in the cells of all eukaryotic organisms. Although these fibers serve many different functions, they exist primarily to provide structural support and intracellular transport as part of the cell cytoskeleton. Actin fibers can also play the main roles in maintaining or changing cell shapes and causing cell movement. On a larger scale, Actin plays an integral role in the muscle contraction process, without which it would be completely impossible for people and many other organisms. The almost ubiquity of actin in cells is very useful for various research applications focused on cytoskeletons and other areas of cell biology.
The actin polymerization or process by which monomers of protein actin combine to form actin fibers begins with a process called nucleation. Nucleation occurs when a group of three or more actin monomers, spontaneously or otherwise, grouped the SPOIt formed a base that other actin monomers can join. The actin polymerization does not form a single linear spring; It forms rather an actin fiber consisting of a double helix of interconnected actin monomers. Such an arrangement is much more resistant than the only linear spring would be.
actin polymerization is a reversible process, which means that actin fibers can be divided into individual units of actin. This causes a very dynamic process because actin philaments can polymerize and depolymer quickly in various places in the entire cell. Different chemical changes in different parts of the cell can support polymerization or depolymerization, so actin fibers can be assembled or disassembled relatively quickly based on specific cell needs. It tends to be obvious dynamic equilibrium between the concentration of actin monomers and filaments, although this balance can affect different factors. BelowThe threshold of monomers's thresholds is unlikely to form, but above this threshold, nucleace and polymerization occurs spontaneously.
actin, because of its almost ubiquity in eukaryotic cells and its basic nature as part of the cell cytoskeleton, is commonly studied in biological experimentation. Different methods have been developed for actin dyeing, so the changes resulting from drugs or genetic modifications can be observed. Organisms or cells can be genetically changed or treated with various drugs that affect the polymerization of actin filaments. Such experiments are used to accurately classify many actin fibers and to find out how their change affects cells.