# Characterization of a Filopodial Myosin

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2022 · $32,511

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Filopodia play important roles in a variety of cellular processes including immune response, neuronal
pathogenesis, and wound healing. Cells use filopodia to survey their environment and are typically upregulated
in motile cells. Filopodia are thin, rod-like cellular protrusions composed of parallel bundles of actin and found in
divergent organisms such as the social amoeba Dictyostelium and metazoans. The core mechanisms behind
filopodia formation are conserved throughout metazoans and amoebozoans, yet the mechanism of filopodia
initiation is still unknown.
 MyTH4-FERM (MF) myosins, the amoeboid Myosin 7 (DdMyo7) and metazoan Myosin 10 (Myo10), are
essential for filopodia initiation. They are targeted to the membrane, form initiation foci, and are subsequently
enriched in filopodia tips during elongation. Filopodia initiation is being studied in the simple model organism
Dictyostelium because it has minimal protein redundancy, allows for efficient genetic manipulation, and
biochemical quantities of material are easily obtained. The ultimate goal of the proposed work is to understand
the role of MF myosins during filopodia initiation. To accomplish this, I will 1) define the motor properties of
DdMyo7 using standard motility assays and 2) identify DdMyo7 interacting partners using an unbiased proximity
ligase screen. The data generated by the proposed experiments will provide critical information needed to
understand how a filopodia myosin drives initiation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10403958
- **Project number:** 5F31GM139366-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** Casey W Eddington
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $32,511
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-05-01 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10403958

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10403958, Characterization of a Filopodial Myosin (5F31GM139366-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10403958. Licensed CC0.

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