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The Role Of The Formin Protein Family In Membrane Dynamics, Petrus Adrianus Cornelis Van Gisbergen

Doctoral Dissertations

Using molecular genetics, and high end imaging techniques, I assessed the function of the formin protein family in the moss Physcomitrella patens. Formins are proteins that can nucleate and elongate actin filaments. P. patens has 9 formins, divided over three classes. I found that a class II formin (For2A) is essential for polarized growth and specifically binds to the phosphoinositide PI(3,5)P₂. Additionally, I show that this formin polymerizes actin filaments in vivo. I demonstrated that binding PI(3,5)P₂ is essential for formin function. My work also shows that one of the class I formins (For1F) is involved …