Molecular mechanisms of inorganic-phosphate release from the core and barbed end of actin filaments

The release of inorganic phosphate (P i ) from actin filaments constitutes a key step in their regulated turnover, which is fundamental to many cellular functions. The mechanisms underlying P i release from the core and barbed end of actin filaments remain unclear. Here, using human and bovine actin isoforms, we combine cryo-EM with molecular-dynamics simulations and in vitro reconstitution to demonstrate how actin releases P i through a ‘molecular backdoor’. While constantly open at the barbed end, the backdoor is predominantly closed in filament-core subunits and opens only transiently through concerted amino acid rearrangements. This explains why P i escapes rapidly from the filament end but slowly from internal subunits. In a nemaline-myopathy-associated actin variant, the backdoor is predominantly open in filament-core subunits, resulting in accelerated P i release and filaments with drastically shortened ADP-P i caps. Our results provide the molecular basis for P i release from actin and exemplify how a disease-linked mutation distorts the nucleotide-state distribution and atomic structure of the filament. Release of inorganic phosphate (P i ) from actin marks older actin filaments for disassembly. Here, the authors show how P i exits the F-actin interior through a ‘molecular backdoor’. The backdoor arrangement is distorted in a disease-linked actin variant.