Olivia L Mooren

Nov 4, 2024 | sciencedirect.com | David Alais |Thomas Carlson |Olivia L Mooren |John Cooper

Many eukaryotic cells exhibit shape changes. One of the most intriguing examples is the single-celled ciliated eukaryote, Lacrymaria, which has long interested researchers with its dramatic, dynamic shape changes and great freedom of movement (Video S1).1 Lacrymaria is a predatory ciliate (Video S2) that is usually found in lakes and ponds.

May 14, 2024 | biorxiv.org | Olivia L Mooren |Patrick McConnell |James D DeBrecht |Anshuman Jaysingh

AbstractActin polymerization is often associated with membrane proteins containing capping-protein-interacting (CPI) motifs, such as CARMIL, CD2AP, and WASHCAP/Fam21. CPI motifs bind directly to actin capping protein (CP), and this interaction weakens the binding of CP to barbed ends of actin filaments, lessening the ability of CP to functionally cap those ends. The protein V-1 / myotrophin binds to the F-actin binding site on CP and sterically blocks CP from binding barbed ends.

Aug 17, 2023 | biorxiv.org | Patrick McConnell |Chenbo Yan |Olivia L Mooren |Melissa D. Stuchell-Brereton

AbstractActin capping protein (CP) can be regulated by steric and allosteric mechanisms. The molecular mechanism of the allosteric regulation at a biophysical level includes linkage between the binding sites for three ligands: F-actin, Capping-Protein-Interacting (CPI) motifs, and V-1/myotrophin, based on biochemical functional studies and solvent accessibility experiments.