A budding role for a cellular dynamo

Actin, a globular protein found in all eukaryotic cells, is a workhorse that varies remarkably little from baker's yeast to the human body. Part of the cytoskeleton, actin assembles into networks of filaments that give the cell structural plasticity while driving many essential functions, from cell motility and division, to vesicle and organelle transport within the cell. In a groundbreaking new study in the current issue of Developmental Cell, Brandeis researchers raise the curtain on how this actin maintains just the right filament length to keep the cell healthy and happily dividing.

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