Schizosaccharomyces pombe Arc3 is a conserved subunit of the Arp2/3 complex required for polarity, actin organization, and endocytosis.

We characterized the Schizosaccharomyces pombe arc3 gene, whose product shares sequence homology with that of the budding yeast ARC18 and human subunits of the Arp2/3 complex. Our data showed that Arc3p co-localizes with F-actin patches at the cell ends, but not with F-actin cables or the equatorial actin ring, and binds other subunits of the Arp2/3 complex. Gene deletion analysis showed that arc3 is essential for viability. When arc3 expression was repressed, F-actin patches became dispersed throughout the cell with greatly reduced mobility. Furthermore, in arc3-repressed cells, endocytosis was also inhibited. Human rescued the viability of the Sz. pombe arc3 null mutant; in addition, duanyu37C3 also localized to F-actin patches in human cells. These data suggest that Arc3p is an evolutionarily conserved subunit of the Arp2/3 complex required for proper F-actin organization and efficient endocytosis. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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