Umeå University's logo

umu.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Characterisation of Encephalitozoon cuniculi α-actinin
Umeå University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Chemistry. Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS).ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3492-3287
Umeå University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Chemistry.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3044-1256
2026 (English)In: Molecular and biochemical parasitology (Print), ISSN 0166-6851, E-ISSN 1872-9428, Vol. 266, article id 111738Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The Encephaliozoon cuniculi is an obligate intracellular microsporidian parasite with a highly reduced genome, yet it contains several key components of an actin cytoskeleton. In this study, we characterise the α-actinin-like protein from the parasite to gain insight into its role in actin organisation. The protein contains three domains typical of α-actinins: an N-terminal actin-binding domain and a C-terminal calmodulin-like domain, separated by a rod domain. Gel filtration analysis demonstrated that the recombinant protein formed stable dimers, consistent with the canonical antiparallel α-actinin structure. Actin co-sedimentation assays and electron microscopy confirmed that the α-actinin-like protein binds and cross-links actin filaments into tight bundles, whereas the isolated actin-binding domain binds but does not cross-link filaments. AlphaFold modelling predicted an overall structural arrangement compatible with an antiparallel dimer. Our results identify the E. cuniculi α-actinin-like protein as a true α-actinin homologue. The presence of actin-binding proteins in E. cuniculi as well as in other microsporidia with very small genomes implies that an actin-based cytoskeleton is important for their survival.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2026. Vol. 266, article id 111738
Keywords [en]
Encephalitozoon cuniculi, α-actinin, Actin cytoskeleton, Microsporidia, Actin-binding proteins
National Category
Biological Sciences
Research subject
Biochemistry
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-250240DOI: 10.1016/j.molbiopara.2026.111738PubMedID: 41730339Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105030946121OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-250240DiVA, id: diva2:2041099
Funder
Umeå UniversityMagnus Bergvall FoundationAvailable from: 2026-02-23 Created: 2026-02-23 Last updated: 2026-03-23Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(8173 kB)34 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 8173 kBChecksum SHA-512
4cb3578fd06c49cb20616923fea2bf0a00da05196479c442199b8095182e87638120b2779653505151b090c7a739b8ae84add88266a5759cd7d5c42f718caf36
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMedScopus

Authority records

Sandblad, LindaBackman, Lars

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Sandblad, LindaBackman, Lars
By organisation
Department of ChemistryMolecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS)
In the same journal
Molecular and biochemical parasitology (Print)
Biological Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 2296 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf