The Cytoskeleton

The cytoskeleton is the part of a cell that helps hold the shape of the cell. It can take three different shapes: Microfilaments, Intermediate Filaments, and Microtubules. The Microfilaments are two twisted strands of proteins 7nm in diameter and can be up to several centimeters long. They are responsible for the movement of pseudopodia, the prey that is engulfed by Amoebae. The Intermediate Filaments is composed of eight microfilaments bound to form a rope like structure. It's function is to maintain cells shape by holding all the different parts of the cell in an advanced web. The microtubules are tubes consisting of two proteins. They control the movement of chromosomesduring cell division, the movement of organelles within cytoplasm, and the movement of cilia and flagella.

Microfilaments/ Actin Filaments:

Follow this link to build your own actin strand. Needs Java.

http://nessie.bch.ed.ac.uk/PAUL/ACTIN/

Intermediate Filament:

http://spot.colorado.edu/~klym/IFC.html

Microtubules:

My creation.