Selected Publications
Publications
Chhabra, E. C., Ramabhadran, V., & Higgs, H. N. J. Cell Sci. Submitted 2008. INF2 is an endoplasmic reticulum, associated formin protein.
Esue, O., Harris, E. S., Higgs, H. N. & Wirtz, D. (2008) The filamentous actin cross-linking/bundling activity of mammalian formins. J. Mol. Biol. PMID: 18835565.
Nicholson-Dykstra, S. M. & Higgs, H. N. (2008) Arp2 depletion inhibits sheet-like protrusions but not linear protrusions of fibroblasts and lymphocytes. Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton. 65(11): 904-922.
Wawro, B., Greenfield, N. J., Wear, M. A., Cooper, J. A., Higgs, H. N., & Hitchcock-Degregori, S. E. (2007) Tropomyosin regulates elongation by formin at the fast-growing end of the actin filament. Biochemistry 46(27): 8146-8155.
Eisenmann, K. M., Harris, E. S., Kitchen, S. M., Holman, H. A., Higgs, H. N. & Alberts, A. S. (2007) Dia-interacting protein modulates formin-mediated actin assembly at the cell cortex. Curr Biol 17(7): 579-591.
Chhabra, E. S. & Higgs, H. N. (2006) INF2 is a WH2 motif-containing formin that severs actin filaments and accelerates both polymerization and depolymerization. J. Biol. Chem. 281(36):26754-26767.
Harris, E. S., Rouiller, I., Hanein, D., & Higgs, H. N. (2006) Mechanistic differences in actin bundling activity of two mammalian formins, FRL1 and mDia2. J. Biol. Chem. 281 (20): 14383-14392.
Kovar, D. R., Harris, E. S., Mahaffy, R., Higgs, H. N., & Pollard, T. D. Control of the assembly of ATP- and ADP-actin by formins and profilin. (2006) Cell. 124: 423-435.
Barzik, M., Kotova, T. I., Higgs, H. N., Hazelwood, L., Hanein, D., Gertler, F. B., & Schafer, D. A. Ena/VASP proteins enhance actin polymerization in the presence of barbed end capping Proteins. (2005) J. Biol. Chem. 280 (31): 28,653-28662.
Li, F. & Higgs, H. N. Dissecting requirements for auto-inhibition of actin nucleation by the formin, mDia1. (2005) J. Biol. Chem. 280 (8): 6986-6992.
Higgs, H. N. & Peterson, K. J. Phylogenetic analysis of the Formin Homology 2 domain. (2005) Mol. Biol. Cell. 16(1): 1-13.
Majstoravich S, Zhang J, Nicholson-Dykstra S, Linder S, Friedrich W, Siminovitch KA, Higgs HN. Lymphocyte microvilli are dynamic, actin-dependent structures that do not require Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp) for their morphology. Blood. 2004 Sep 1;104(5):1396-403.
Harris ES, Higgs HN. Actin cytoskeleton: formins lead the way. Curr Biol. 2004 Jul 13;14(13):R520-2.
Harris ES, Li F, Higgs HN. The mouse formin, FRLalpha, slows actin filament barbed end elongation, competes with capping protein, accelerates polymerization from monomers, and severs filaments. J Biol Chem. 2004 May 7;279(19):20076-87.
Li F, Higgs HN. The mouse Formin mDia1 is a potent actin nucleation factor regulated by autoinhibition. Curr Biol. 2003 Aug 5;13(15):1335-40.
Marchand, J. B, Kaiser, D. A., Pollard, T. D., & Higgs, H. N. Interaction of WASp/Scar proteins with actin and vertebrate Arp2/3 complex. (2001) Nature Cell Biol. 3: 76-82.
Higgs, H. N., & Pollard, T. D. Activation by Cdc42 and PIP2 of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome protein (WASp) stimulates actin nucleation by Arp2/3 complex. (2000) J. Cell Biol. 150: 1311-1320.
Lin, Q., Higgs, H. N., & Glomset, J. A. Membrane lipids have multiple effects on interfacial catalysis by a phosphatidic acid-preferring phospholipase A1 from bovine testis. (2000) Biochemistry. 39: 9335-9344.
Reviews
Chhabra, E. S. & Higgs, H. N. The many faces of actin: matching assembly factors with cellular structures. Nature Cell Biol. 9(10) 1110-1121.
Harris, E. S. & Higgs, H. N. Biochemical analysis of mammalian formin effects on actin dynamics. (2006) Methods Enzymol. 406: 190-214.
Higgs, H. N. Formin proteins: a domain-based approach. (2005) Trends Biochem. Sci. 30(6): 342-353.
Nicholson-Dykstra, S., Higgs, H. N., & Harris, E. S. Actin dynamics: growth from dendritic branches. (2005) Current Biology. 15(9) R346-357.
Higgs, H. N. There goes the neighborhood: Eps8 joins the barbed-end crowd. (2004) Nature Cell Biol. 6(12): 1147-1149.
Harris, E. S. & Higgs, H. N. Actin cytoskeleton: formins lead the way. (2004) Current Biology. 14(13) R520-R522.
Merz, A. J., & Higgs, H. N. Listeria motility: biophysics pushes things forward. (2003) Current Biology. 13(8): R302-R304.
Higgs, H. N. Actin nucleation: cortactin caught in the act. (2002) Current Biology. 12(17) R593-R595.
Higgs, H. N. Actin nucleation: nucleation-promoting factors are not all equal. (2001) Current Biology. 11(24) R1009-1012.
Higgs, H. N. & Pollard, T. D. Regulation of actin nucleation by Arp2/3 complex: Activation by a diverse array of proteins. (2001) Ann. Rev. Biochem. in press.
Higgs, H. N. The basic art of protein-membrane interaction specificity: MARCKS and PIP2. (2001) Trends in Biochem. Sci. in press.
Higgs, H. N. Tools for the OSceptical (bio)ChymistO: measuring cellular protein dynamics by TIR/FRAP. (2000) Trends in Biochem. Sci. 25(11): 540-541.
Higgs, H. N. The harder the better: effects of substrate rigidity on cell motility. (2000) Trends in Biochem. Sci. 25(9): 427.
Higgs, H. N., & Pollard, T. D. Regulation of actin polymerization by Arp2/3 complex and WASp/Scar proteins. (1999) J. Biol. Chem. 274: 32531-32534.