Profilin is required for the normal timing of actin polymerization in response to thermal stress.

We have used a fluorometric assay to determine the relative amounts of polymerized actin (F-actin) in wild-type and profilin mutant yeast cells. Our results indicate that profilin plays a role in maintaining normal F-actin levels in response to shifts to high temperature. Cells lacking profilin display a greater drop in F-actin levels upon such temperature shifts, and are slower to recover to initial F-actin levels than are wild-type cells. Interestingly, shifts to cold temperatures result in rapid increases of F-actin levels in wild-type and profilin null cells. We have further determined that shifting to high-osmolarity growth conditions causes a relatively slow decrease in F-actin levels in wild-type cells, and a small but rapid increase in the F-actin levels in profilin null cells. Profilin null cells contain normal concentrations of F-actin while growing exponentially at room temperature, indicating that profilin is not essential for maintaining F-actin concentrations during steady-state growth. Our data suggest that actin is inherently unstable in vivo at high temperatures, and that profilin helps to maintain actin in its filamentous state at these temperatures, perhaps by stimulating actin polymerization in a proper temporal and spatial fashion.