The assembly and disassembly (i.e. turnover) of actin filaments in response
to extracellular signals underlie a wide variety of basic cellular process
es such as cell division, endocytosis and motility. The bulk turnover of su
bunits is 100-200 times faster in cells than with pure actin, suggesting a
complex regulation in vivo. Significant progress has been made recently in
identifying and clarifying the roles of several cellular proteins that coor
dinately regulate actin-filament turnover.