Septin dynamics and organization in mammalian cells

Abstract

Septins are involved in many important cellular processes, and septin dysfunction has been implicated in various pathologies, such as cancer. Like other components of the cytoskeleton -F-actin, microtubules, and intermediate filaments-septins can self-assemble into filaments and higher-order structures. These non-polar filaments are assembled from complex and variable multimeric building blocks. Septins exhibit a distinct preference for interacting with actin and microtubule structures, particularly at the interface with cellular membrane. Although they are crucial for many vital cellular functions and are frequently observed at prominent cellular structures like stress fibers, cilia, and neuronal processes, our understanding of the regulation of septin filament dynamics and the organized assembly of higher-order structures remains limited. However, recent insights into the architecture of septin filaments, the structure of crucial septin domains, and their interactions with other cellular components (F-actin, microtubules, membranes) and regulatory proteins may now pave the way for rapid progress.