Cytoskeleton and Cellular Architecture Flashcards
What are the 3 types of cytoskeleton filaments?
Intermediate filaments MIDDLE
Microtubules LARGEST
Actin filaments SMALLEST
What is the strongest and most flexible of the 3 filaments?
Intermediate filaments
many thin, parallel strands that are strong but can flex
What are the 3 domains of the intermediate filament?
1 - N head NOT ALPHA HELICAL
2 - central rod domain
3 - C tail NOT ALPHA HELICAL
Are high energy nucleotides required for assembly of IF? What about the other filaments?
NO they arent
they are for the others
What are the 4 steps of assembly of a IF? Which one is the fundamental subunit?
1 - alpha helical monomer
- coiled-coil dimer
3 - STAGGERED tetromer of two coiled-coil dimers
4 - Unit length filament - 8 laterally associated tetramers (32 total IF proteins)
5 - final IF
Are the tetramers of IF polar?
NO
Are the interactions between the dimers, tetramers, and ULFs of the IFs strong or weak? What is the advantage of this:
They are weak allow them to deform to handle stress by sliding past one another
Does the IF still stretch even at low stress? Why?
YES due to the H-bonds severing because of the streching of the alpha helices
What are all of the cytoplasmic IFs? What about nuclear?
Cytoplasmic - desmin filament (mucles), keratin filaments (epithelial), vimentin (connective-tissues, muscles, and glial cells), neurofilaments (nerves)
Nuclear - nuclear lamins in all animal cells
Why is keratin a special type of IF?
There are more than 50 different kinds
they are usually heterodimers while other IFs are homodimers
What is the function of the nuclear lamina? How is it different from other IFs?
This is a mesh of lamin proteins that support the nuclear envelope (lipids) to give its strength and shape
nuclear lamins completely disassemble during mitosis in each cell cycle due to phosphorylation and reassemble in interphase when dephosphorylated
What is progeria?
A disease where children show signs of aging, though to be caused by a defective nuclear lamin gene.
What are desmosomes?
These are contact points between cells that lock them together formed by the IFs of each cell radiating out and linking together forming a network that extends through many cells
What is EBS (epidermolysis bullosa simplex)?
An inherited defect of keratin or keratin-associated proteins that causes blistering of the skin with no trauma.
Mutant keratin renders it susceptible to collapse.
How did they find out EBS was inherited?
By injecting embryos with the mutant plasmid and placing them in a mother mouse, some of her offspring expressed the mutant keratin.
What is the least flexible filament therefore the most rigid?
MT
What is required to assemble MT?
GTP (energy)
What is the main function of the MT? Does this require ATP?
to move cargo through the cell
YES
What are three synonymous terms for MTOC (microtubule organizing center)?
Centrosome - during interphase
Spindle poles - mitotic cell
Basal body - ciliated cell
What is the function of MTs from centrosome?
to give size and shape of interphase cell
What is the function of the spindle poles?
drives chromosome positioning and segregation during mitosis
What is the function of the MT cytoskeleton?
Scaffold for plasma membrane and large organelles
Describe the structure of the centrosome. What binds the microtubules to the centrosome?
These are made up of microtubule triplets that form a ring, pericentriolar material is around it.
gamma-tubulin anchors and stabilizes mircrotubules bound the the centrosome or other MTOC
Describe the building block of a MT.
Made of alpha and beta tubulin bound together forming a heterodimer, both of which are bound to a GTP molecule