BIOL 205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Intermediate Filament, Lamin, Spindle Apparatus
Document Summary
The cytoskeleton is an intricate network of protein filaments that extend throughout the cytoplasm. This structure helps to support the large volume of cytoplasm which have no cell walls. Unlike our skeleton, the cytoskeleton is a highly dynamic structure that continuously reorganized as a cell changes shape, divides and responds to stimuli. Without the cytoskeleton, wounds would not heal, sperm would not reach the egg, and muscles would not contract. Eukaryotes have highly organized cellular interiors in which organelles that carry out specialized functions are concentrated in different areas and are linked by transport systems. The cytoskeleton controls the location of the organelles, and also controls the segregation of the chromosomes into two daughter cells at cell division as well as pinching apart those two new cells. The cytoskeleton is built on a framework of three types of protein filaments: intermediate filaments, microtubules, and actin filaments.
