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Intermediate filaments are composed of a family of related proteins sharing common structural and sequence features. Initially designated 'intermediate' because their average diameter (10 nm ) is between those of narrower microfilaments (actin) and wider myosin filaments found in muscle cells, the diameter of intermediate filaments is now ...
An example of an intermediate filament is a Neurofilament. They provide support for the structure of the axon and are a major part of the cytoskeleton. Intermediate filaments contain an average diameter of 10 nm, which is smaller than that of microtubules, but larger than that of microfilaments. [4]
These two categories also represent the first two categories of the superfamily of intermediate filament proteins. Keratins in this table are classified in the first two columns according to the nomenclature established in 2006. [3] Other names previously used are listed in columns 3 and 4.
Examples for intermediate filaments, which have almost exclusively been found in animals (i.e. eukaryotes) are the lamins, keratins, vimentin, neurofilaments, and desmin. [ 8 ] Although tubulin-like proteins share some amino acid sequence similarity, their equivalence in protein-fold and the similarity in the GTP binding site is more striking.
The term cytokeratin began to be used in the late 1970s, when the protein subunits of keratin intermediate filaments inside cells were first being identified and characterized. [2] In 2006 a new systematic nomenclature for mammalian keratins was created, and the proteins previously called cytokeratins are simply called keratins (human ...
The protein composition of neurofilaments varies widely across different animal phyla. Most is known about mammalian neurofilaments. Historically, mammalian neurofilaments were originally thought to be composed of just three proteins called neurofilament protein NF-L (low molecular weight; NF-L), NF-M (medium molecular weight; NF-M) and NF-H (high molecular weight; NF-H).
Intermediate filaments composed of keratin or desmin are attached to membrane-associated attachment proteins that form a dense plaque on the cytoplasmic face of the membrane. Cadherin molecules form the actual anchor by attaching to the cytoplasmic plaque, extending through the membrane and binding strongly to cadherins coming through the ...
The MinCDE system is a filament system that properly positions the septum in the middle of the cell in Escherichia coli. According to Shih et al., MinC inhibits the formation of the septum by prohibiting the polymerization of the Z-ring. MinC, MinD, and MinE form a helix structure that winds around the cell and is bound to the membrane by MinD.