Study of Long-term molecular turnover of actin stress fibers by Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) (CAT#: STEM-MT-0031-WXH)

Introduction

Subcellular multiprotein structures that shape cells are continuously replaced with surrounding proteins in cells, a phenomenon called turnover. Short-term turnover, which is often analyzed in cell biology studies, is driven mainly by the Brownian motion-based diffusion and chemical replacement. The diffusion-dominant turnover is typically completed within a few seconds because of the fast diffusive nature. Meanwhile, the chemical replacement occurs over a wider range of time scales that can take several minutes. The latter case, involving chemical reactions, is potentially subjected to an additional mechanical factor, advection, namely the transport of the proteins by local bulk motion. The involvement of advection becomes evident particularly when proteins of interest closely bind to actin cytoskeletal structures as they can be translocated due to the myosin-driven and/or actin polymerization-induced retrograde flow. Thus, the interpretation of the long-term turnover can be more complicated than the short-term one because of the involvement of intracellular advection.