Brains and brawn: plectin as regulator and reinforcer of the cytoskeleton

Plectin is a 580 kDa intracellular protein, previously shown to link interm ediate filaments with microtubules, actin filaments, and membrane component s. Disruption of the plectin gene in humans and in mice results in severe s kin blistering and muscular degeneration, consistent with plectin's structu ral role in stabilizing cells against mechanical force. However, recent wor k by Andra et al.((1)) characterizing cells from plectin-deficient mice dem onstrates that in addition to this structural role, plectin also modulates the dynamics of the actin cytoskeleton. This makes plectin unusual in that it serves both to reinforce and crosslink intermediate filament attachments to membranes and other cytoskeletal polymers and to regulate actin dynamic s in cells. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.