actin - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

Listeria monocytogenes derived ActA (“act-A”) induces the assembly of Arp2/3 (“arp-2-3”) complexes that promote polymerization of this protein in “comet tails.” For 10 points each:

[10e] Name this protein that forms microspikes at the lamellipodia edges of migrating cells. MreB (“M-R-E-B”) is the prokaryotic analog of this protein, whose microfilament structures bind to myosin heads during muscle contraction.

ANSWER: actin [accept F-actin or G-actin]

[10h] ActA acts as a mimic for an actin nucleation promoting factor mutated in this syndrome. This X-linked doubly eponymous syndrome is alternatively named after a triad of eczema, thrombocytopenia, and immunodeficiency.

ANSWER: Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome [or WAS; accept Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein or WASp; prompt on X-linked thrombocytopenia or XLT; prompt on X-linked congenital neutropenia or XLN]

[10m] In the “zipper” mechanism, Listeria invades host cells by binding surface internalins, which in turn interact with the epithelial form of this protein. Defects in these calcium-dependent cell adhesion proteins can trigger cancer cell metastasis.

ANSWER: cadherins [accept cadherin-1; accept E-cadherins or T-cadherins or P-cadherins; prompt on cads or E-cads or T-cads or P-cads]

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Summary


California (North)	Main Site	Y	3	16.67	100%	67%	0%
California (South)	Main Site	Y	4	15.00	100%	25%	25%
Canada	Main Site	Y	1	0.00	0%	0%	0%
Florida	Main Site	Y	3	10.00	67%	33%	0%
Great Lakes	Main Site	Y	5	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	9	6.67	67%	0%	0%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	8	17.50	100%	63%	13%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	5	10.00	80%	20%	0%
Overflow	Main Site	Y	4	5.00	50%	0%	0%
South Central	Main Site	Y	2	5.00	50%	0%	0%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	7	10.00	100%	0%	0%
UK	Main Site	Y	12	7.50	58%	17%	0%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	8	15.00	75%	63%	13%
Upstate NY	Main Site	Y	4	10.00	100%	0%	0%

Data


Stanford B	Berkeley B	10	0	0	10
Berkeley C	Stanford A	10	0	10	20
Berkeley A	Berkeley D	10	0	10	20
UC Irvine	UCLA B	10	0	0	10
UCLA A	UCSD C	10	10	10	30
UCSD A	UC Santa Barbara	10	0	0	10
UCSD B	Arizona State	10	0	0	10
Brock	UBC B	0	0	0	0
Florida C	Central Florida B	10	0	0	10
Central Florida A	Florida A	10	0	10	20
Florida B	Central Florida C	0	0	0	0
CWRU A	Michigan State	10	0	0	10
Ohio State A	Michigan A	10	0	0	10
Ohio State C	Michigan B	10	0	0	10
Michigan C	Pittsburgh	10	0	0	10
Ohio State B	CWRU B	10	0	0	10
William and Mary	James Madison B	10	0	0	10
James Madison A	Liberty A	0	0	0	0
NC State A	Virginia Tech A	0	0	0	0
Liberty C	NC State B	0	0	0	0
North Carolina C	Liberty B	10	0	0	10
South Carolina A	North Carolina B	10	0	0	10
North Carolina A	South Carolina B	10	0	0	10
VCU	Duke	10	0	0	10
Virginia	Wake Forest	10	0	0	10
Chicago B	Northwestern D	10	0	10	20
Chicago C	Chicago E	10	0	10	20
Illinois A	Notre Dame B	10	10	10	30
Illinois B	Indiana C	10	0	10	20
Purdue B	Indiana B	10	0	0	10
Northwestern C	Northwestern B	10	0	0	10
Notre Dame A	Indiana A	10	0	10	20
Yale	Bowdoin A	10	0	0	10
Brown	Harvard A	10	0	10	20
Dartmouth A	Dartmouth B	10	0	0	10
Harvard B	Bowdoin B	10	0	0	10
Southern Connecticut State	Brandeis A	0	0	0	0
Illinois C	Purdue A	10	0	0	10
Minnesota A	Claremont	10	0	0	10
Missouri A	Georgia Tech A	10	0	0	10
Carleton College	Missouri B	0	0	0	0
Texas A&M A	Murray State A	0	0	0	0
Texas B	Texas A	10	0	0	10
Alabama A	WashU B	10	0	0	10
Kentucky	WashU A	10	0	0	10
Georgia Tech B	Louisville A	10	0	0	10
Georgia Tech D	Mississipi State	10	0	0	10
Alabama B	Sewanee	10	0	0	10
Georgia Tech C	Tennessee A	10	0	0	10
Louisville B	Vanderbilt B	10	0	0	10
Washington A	Iowa State	0	0	0	0
Montpellier	Birmingham	10	0	10	20
Bristol	Cambridge B	10	0	10	20
Warwick A	Cambridge A	10	0	0	10
Cambridge C	City St. George's	0	0	0	0
Cardiff	Southampton B	0	0	0	0
Durham	Edinburgh B	0	0	0	0
Imperial A	Oxford A	10	0	0	10
Southampton A	Imperial B	10	0	0	10
Oxford B	Imperial C	0	0	0	0
UCL	LSE	10	0	0	10
Edinburgh A	Manchester	10	0	0	10
Warwick B	Oxford C	0	0	0	0
Rutgers A	Maryland A	10	0	10	20
Georgetown	Rutgers B	0	0	0	0
Columbia C	Swarthmore	10	0	0	10
NYU B	Vassar	10	0	10	20
Cornell B	Binghamton B	10	0	0	10
Penn State	Cornell C	10	0	0	10
Cornell A	RIT	10	0	0	10
Binghamton A	Rochester	10	0	0	10
Catholic	Johns Hopkins B	0	0	0	0
Columbia A	Maryland C	10	10	10	30
Columbia B	Maryland B	10	0	10	20
John Jay	NYU C	10	0	10	20