Question

In the cell, the concentration of actin monomer is higher than the concentration required for purified actin monomers to polymerize in vitro Thymosin is a protein that can bind actin monomers. If you were to add a drug that inhibits the ability of thymosin to bind actin monomers, what effect would this have on actin polymerization? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

Adding a drug that inhibits thymosin's ability to bind actin monomers would increase actin polymerization, as more monomers would be free to add to the growing plus end of actin filaments, affecting cell motility and structure.

Step-by-step explanation:

Thymosin is a protein that regulates actin polymerization by binding to actin monomers and preventing them from adding to the growing filament. If a drug were to inhibit the binding ability of thymosin to actin monomers, this would likely lead to an increase in actin filament growth. This is because more actin monomers would be available to add to the growing plus end of actin filaments, where polymerization primarily occurs. Since intracellular actin monomer concentrations are already higher than the concentration needed for polymerization, the removal of thymosin's inhibitory effect could potentially cause a significant increase in filament formation and thus influence cell motility and structure.