CYTOSKELETON and CELL MOTILITY
BIO 170 Lec
-Flagellar motility
-Amoeboid movement
-Gliding motility
-Swarming motility
-Many cells are not motile, for example
Kleibsiella pneumoniae and Shigella, or
under specific circumstances, such as
Yersinia pestis at 37°C
CYTOSOL
-Intra-cellular fluid that is present inside the
cells
-Part of the cytoplasm that is not held by
any of the organelles in the cell
-All the metabolic chemical reactions of
prokaryotes take place
-Major components: concentration
gradients, protein complexes, protein
compartments and cytoskeletal sieving
-Comprises water, dissolved ions, large
water soluble molecules, smaller minute
molecules and proteins
CYTOSKELETON
-A cytoplasmic system of fibers, critical to
cell motility
-Plays a structural role by supporting the
cell membrane and by forming tracks along
which organelles and other elements move
in the cytosol.
-Undergoes constant rearrangement, which
can produce movements.
-Establishes cell shape
-Provides mechanical strength
-Locomotion
-Chromosome separation in meiosis and
mitosis (actin cytoskeleton reorganized
during mitosis to form rounded cells with
increased cortical rigidity)
-Intracellular transport of organelles
ACTIN FILAMENTS
Monomers of the protein actin polymerize
to form long, thin fibers. These are 8nm in
diameter and, being the thinnest of the
cytoskeletal filaments, are also called
microfilaments. (In skeletal muscle fibers
they are called “thin” filaments.)
Functions:
-form a band just beneath the plasma
membrane that 1)provides mechanical
strength to the cell 2)links transmembrane
proteins (e.g. cell surface receptor) to
cytoplasmic proteins 3)pinches dividing
animal cells apart during cytokinesis
-generate cytoplasmic streaming in some
cells
-generate locomotion in cells such as white
blood cells and the amoeba
-interact with myosin (“thick”) filaments in
skeletal muscle fibers to provide the force
of muscular contraction
INTERMEDIATE FILAMENTS
-Average 10nm in diameter
TYPES OF INTERMEDIATE FILAMENTS
-keratins are found in epithelial cells and
form hair and nails
-nuclear lamins form a meshwork that
stabilizes the inner membrane
-neurofilaments strengthen the long axons
of neurons
-vimentins provide mechanical strength to
muscle cells
-Intermediate filaments play similar roles in
the cell: providing a supporting framework
within the cell
-Different kinds of epithelia use different
keratins to build their intermediate
filaments. Over 20 different kinds of
keratins have been found, although each
kind of epithelial cell may use no more than
2 of them. Up to 85% of the dry weight of
squamous epithelial cells can consist of
keratins.
-Generally strong and ropelike; less dynamic
compared to actin filaments or “9+2”array.
microtubules -Tubulin forms a core structure to which
other proteins contribute structures called
-Commonly work in tandem in
dynein arms, radial spokes, and nexin links.
microtubules, providing strength and
-Flagella are much longer than cilia and are
support for fragile tubulin structures
usually present singly or in pairs.
-Composed of smaller strands in the -Cilia tend to cover the surface area of a
shape of rods. Eight rods are aligned in a cell. Both cilia and flagella bend as the
staggered array with another eight rods microtubules slide past one another.
and these components all twist together -The arrangement of cilia permits their
to form the ropelike conformation of an coordinated movement in response to
intermediate filament. signals from the cytoplasm.
MICROTUBULES -They are constructed from microtubules
-Straight, hollow cylinders whose wall is and both provide either locomotion or to
made up of a ring of 13 protofilaments move fluid past the cells
-Have a diameter of about 25nm
-Motion requires motor molecules of
-Variable in length but can grow 1000 times
dynein, which link adjacent microtubules
as long as they are wide
together and energy of ATP
-Are built by the assembly of dimers of
alpha and beta tubulin
-Found in both animal and plant cells.
Prepared by:
Most involve motion
Dorothy Rica G. de Asis
-Motion is provided by protein “motors”
BS Biology
that use the energy of ATP to move along
the microtubule
MICROTUBULE MOTORS
-kinesins most of these move toward the
plus end of the microtubules
-dyneins which move toward the minus end

Minus ends of microtubules are anchored in

structures called MTOC (Microtubule
Organizing Center).
Primary MTOC – centrosome, usually
located adjacent to the nucleus
CILIA AND FLAGELLA
-Have the same basic structure. Attached to
structure known as basal bodies.
-Microtubules arrange themselves in a