Binding of biological phosphate compounds to actin was investigated by the effect of these compounds on the critical concentration of the pointed ends of gelsolin-capped actin filaments. According to this assay millimolar concentrations of glucose 6-phosphate and the bisphosphorylated sugars fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, fructose 2,6-bisphosphate, glucose 1,6-bisphosphate, sedoheptulose 1,7-bisphosphate and 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate were found to associate with actin. Glycerophosphoinositol phosphates bound to actin if they were present in millimolar concentrations, and if carbon atom 4 of the inositol ring was phosphorylated and carbon atom 5 was free of phosphate. Also phosphoserine and phosphotyrosine were found to interact with actin. Most of the actin-binding compounds stabilized actin filaments by decreasing the critical concentration suggesting that these compounds had a higher affinity for the subunits along actin filaments than for actin monomers. However, 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate and fructose 2,6-bisphosphate increased the critical concentration probably because these sugar phosphates bound to actin monomers thereby inhibiting actin polymerization.
