Profilin 1 (PFN1)

Profilin-1 is a ubiquitous actin monomer-binding protein belonging to the profilin family. It is thought to regulate actin polymerization in response to extracellular signals. Deletion of this gene is associated with Miller-Dieker syndrome.

Profilin is a ubiquitous 12- to 15-kD protein which inhibits the polymerization of actin. It is thought to function by complexing with unpolymerized actin in vivo. Dissociation of the profilin-actin complex is caused by binding of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate to profilin. Ampe et al. (1988) described the amino acid sequence of human platelet profilin and found it to have 95% homology to the sequence of calf spleen profilin.