ELECTRON CRYSTALLOGRAPHY OF ACROSOMAL BUNDLE

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. In the unactivated Limulus sperm, a 60 ¿¿m-long bundle of actin filaments crosslinked by scruin is bent and twisted into a coil around the base of the nucleus. At fertilization the bundle uncoils and fully extends in five seconds to support a finger of membrane, the acrosomal process. This biological spring is powered by stored elastic energy and does not require the action of motor proteins or actin polymerization. Our 9.5 ¿ electron cryomicroscopic structure of the extended bundle shows that twist, tilt, and rotation of actin-scruin subunits deviate widely from a "standard" F-actin filament. This deviation appears to be related to the packing requirements of the scruin cross-linkers. The structural organization allows filaments to pack into a highly ordered and rigid bundle in the extended state, but also suggests a mechanism for storing and releasing energy between the coiled and extended states. We are currently analyzing the structure and organization of the actin filament in the bundle, the structure of the scruin, its relationship to the actin, and its packing in the bundle.