Formins: Bringing new insights to the organization of actin cytoskeleton

The actin cytoskeleton is an important component of eukaryotic cell cytoskeleton and is temporally and spatially controlled by a series of actin binding proteins (ABPs). Among ABPs, formin family proteins have attracted much attention as they can nucleate unbranched actin filament from the profilin bound actin pool in vivo. In recent years, a number of formin family members from different organisms have been reported, and their characteristics are known more clearly, although some questions are still to be clarified. Here, we summarize the structures, functions and nucleation mechanisms of different formin family proteins, intending to compare them and give some new clues to the study of formins.