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Microfilament functions include cytokinesis, amoeboid movement, cell motility, changes in cell shape, endocytosis and exocytosis, cell contractility, and mechanical stability. Microfilaments are flexible and relatively strong, resisting buckling by multi-piconewton compressive forces and filament fracture by nanonewton tensile forces.
Microfilament Polymerization. Microfilament polymerization is divided into three steps. The nucleation step is the first step, and it is the rate limiting and slowest step of the process. Elongation is the next step in this process, and it is the rapid addition of actin monomers at both the plus and minus end of the microfilament.
Actin is a family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in muscle fibrils.It is found in essentially all eukaryotic cells, where it may be present at a concentration of over 100 μM; its mass is roughly 42 kDa, with a diameter of 4 to 7 nm.
Inside a cilium and a flagellum is a microtubule-based cytoskeleton called the axoneme. The axoneme of a primary cilium typically has a ring of nine outer microtubule doublets (called a 9+0 axoneme), and the axoneme of a motile cilium has two central microtubules in addition to the nine outer doublets (called a 9+2 axoneme).
[2] [3] Myosin XI is involved in cytoplasmic streaming, wherein movement along microfilament networks in the cell allows organelles and cytoplasm to stream in a particular direction. [4] Eighteen different classes of myosins are known. [5] Genomic representation of myosin motors: [6] Fungi : 5; Plants (Arabidopsis): 17; Insects : 13
Intracellular transport is the movement of vesicles and substances within a cell.Intracellular transport is required for maintaining homeostasis within the cell by responding to physiological signals. [1]
Arp2/3 complexes are present at microfilament-microfilament junctions in lamellipodia, and help create the actin meshwork. Arp2/3 can only join onto previously existing microfilaments, but once bound it creates a site for the extension of new microfilaments, which creates branching. [ 5 ]
Cofilin is a ubiquitous actin-binding factor required for the reorganization of actin filaments. ADF/Cofilin family members bind G-actin monomers and depolymerize actin filaments through two mechanisms: severing [11] and increasing the off-rate for actin monomers from the pointed end. [12] "