Abstract
Cofilin is a key regulator of actin cytoskeletal dynamics whose activity
is controlled by phosphorylation of a single serine residue. We report
the biochemical isolation of chronophin (CIN), a unique cofilin-activating
phosphatase of the haloacid dehalogenase (HAD) superfamily. CIN directly
dephosphorylates cofilin with high specificity and colocalizes with
cofilin in motile and dividing cells. Loss of CIN activity blocks
phosphocycling of cofilin, stabilizes F-actin structures and causes
massive cell division defects. Our findings identify a physiological
phospho-serine protein substrate for a mammalian HAD-type phosphatase
and demonstrate that CIN is an important novel regulator of cofilin-mediated
actin reorganization.
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