Cytoskeleton Flashcards: Fibers, Motors & Functions
Practice cytoskeletal fibers, motor tracks, cell division, and ciliary patterns with 50 English flashcards and short checks for ambiguous clues.
Sobre aquesta baralla
Practice cytoskeleton structure and function with 50 English flashcards for secondary and introductory-college biology. The focus is on telling actin filaments, microtubules, and intermediate filaments apart, then applying those distinctions to motors, cell structures, and short reasoning prompts. Basic cell knowledge is helpful; the cell organelle flashcards cover that prerequisite.
The cards map filament names to building proteins and structural properties, selected protein or shape clues back to filament families, motor names to tracks and specified travel directions, and named cell structures to their cytoskeletal components. Short error checks distinguish a fiber from its building protein or motor. Other prompts ask what information is missing when support, movement, cell division, vesicle transport, or ATP use does not identify a unique answer.
Start with the three filament families, their assembly, and polarity. Motor tracks and ATP use lead into the actin cortex, microvilli, keratins, nuclear lamins, the spindle, and the animal-cell contractile ring. Basic ciliary architecture and selected motor-direction exceptions then support the final mixed distinctions. Selected reverse prompts and related variants are separated; the review scheduler handles longer-term spacing. Every card carries the cytoskeleton tag.
This is text-based recall practice. It does not test diagram or micrograph identification. Exhaustive reverse cards, arbitrary name-to-example lists, exact filament diameters, detailed motor families, clinical diagnosis, drug treatment, bacterial cytoskeletons, and molecular regulation pathways are excluded to keep the deck focused. Typical ciliary patterns are taught with exceptions, not as universal motility rules. No complete biology course or examination alignment is claimed.
The questions, explanations, sequence, and metadata were written independently with AI assistance. Scientific facts were checked against research publications on cytoskeletal interactions and intermediate filaments, microtubule dynamics, motor proteins, microvilli, animal-cell cytokinesis, actin assembly, cell protrusion, motile cilia, and primary cilia. Source wording, exercises, and diagrams were not copied; those publications retain their own licenses, and scientific facts are not claimed as proprietary. Original material and the AI-generated decorative cover are dedicated under CC0 1.0 to the extent applicable rights exist. The cover is an abstract illustration, not a molecular diagram. This is independent study material without institutional endorsement.
Targetes d'aquesta baralla
Targeta 1
Pregunta
What are the three major cytoskeletal filament families in animal cells?
Resposta
Actin filaments (microfilaments), microtubules, and intermediate filaments.
Targeta 2
Pregunta
Which protein builds microfilaments?
Resposta
Actin.
Targeta 3
Pregunta
Which two tubulin subunits pair to build microtubules?
Resposta
Alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin. Each building unit is an alpha–beta tubulin dimer.
Targeta 4
Pregunta
Do all intermediate filaments use the same building protein?
Resposta
No. Different cells use different intermediate-filament proteins, such as keratins, vimentin, and nuclear lamins.
Targeta 5
Pregunta
What does filament polarity mean in the cytoskeleton?
Resposta
The two ends have different molecular structures. Plus and minus label distinct ends, not electrical charges.
Targeta 6
Pregunta
What is the basic shape of an actin filament?
Resposta
Two intertwined strands of actin subunits. It is a thin filament, not a hollow tube.
Targeta 7
Pregunta
Which major cytoskeletal filament forms a hollow tube?
Resposta
A microtubule.
Targeta 8
Pregunta
Which major cytoskeletal filament has a rope-like assembly of fibrous proteins?
Resposta
An intermediate filament.
Targeta 9
Pregunta
Which cytoskeletal filament is the track for myosin motors?
Resposta
An actin filament.
Targeta 10
Pregunta
Which major cytoskeletal filament family lacks distinct plus and minus ends?
Resposta
Intermediate filaments. Actin filaments and microtubules are polar.
Targeta 11
Pregunta
What directly powers the stepping of myosin, kinesin, and dynein motors?
Resposta
ATP hydrolysis.
Targeta 12
Pregunta
Which two motor-protein families move along microtubules?
Resposta
Kinesins and dyneins.
Targeta 13
Pregunta
Which filament network is especially prominent in the cortex just beneath an animal cell’s plasma membrane?
Resposta
Actin filaments. The cortex helps control cell shape and surface mechanics.
Targeta 14
Pregunta
Keratin networks belong to which cytoskeletal filament family?
Resposta
Intermediate filaments.
Targeta 15
Pregunta
What is microtubule dynamic instability?
Resposta
Switching between growth and shrinkage. A microtubule can change length as tubulin subunits are added or lost.
Targeta 16
Pregunta
A cargo moves by kinesin along a microtubule. Which component is the motor?
Resposta
Kinesin. The microtubule is the track.
Targeta 17
Pregunta
Which filaments form the supporting bundles inside microvilli?
Resposta
Actin filaments.
Targeta 18
Pregunta
Which proteins form the nuclear lamina beneath the inner nuclear membrane?
Resposta
Lamins, members of the intermediate-filament protein family.
Targeta 19
Pregunta
Which cytoskeletal filaments form the mitotic spindle?
Resposta
Microtubules. Spindle microtubules help organize and separate chromosomes.
Targeta 20
Pregunta
Cytoplasmic dynein carries cargo toward which end of a microtubule?
Resposta
The minus end.
Targeta 21
Pregunta
Which filament and motor form the main contractile machinery of the animal-cell cleavage ring?
Resposta
Actin filaments and myosin II.
Targeta 22
Pregunta
How can actin assembly help a crawling cell extend its leading edge?
Resposta
Growing actin filaments can push the plasma membrane outward.
Targeta 23
Pregunta
Which filaments form the axoneme, the internal framework of eukaryotic cilia and flagella?
Resposta
Microtubules.
Targeta 24
Pregunta
Conventional kinesin-1 carries cargo toward which end of a microtubule?
Resposta
The plus end.
Targeta 25
Pregunta
What mechanical role do intermediate-filament networks provide when a cell is stretched?
Resposta
They help distribute tensile stress and resist damage from stretching.
Targeta 26
Pregunta
In an animal-cell contractile ring, is myosin II a motor or an actin building subunit?
Resposta
A motor. Actin supplies the filament subunits.
Targeta 27
Pregunta
What does the typical 9 + 2 pattern of an airway motile cilium describe?
Resposta
Nine outer microtubule doublets around two central single microtubules.
Targeta 28
Pregunta
Does the name kinesin alone guarantee plus-end-directed movement?
Resposta
No. Kinesin families differ; some move toward minus ends. Specify the kinesin type before assigning a direction.
Targeta 29
Pregunta
How do the core filaments of microvilli differ from those of eukaryotic cilia?
Resposta
Microvilli have actin bundles; cilia have a microtubule-based axoneme.
Targeta 30
Pregunta
The nuclear lamina is built from which major filament family?
Resposta
Intermediate filaments, specifically lamins.
Targeta 31
Pregunta
In animal-cell division, which structure constricts the cell surface: the spindle or the contractile ring?
Resposta
The contractile ring. Its actin–myosin machinery narrows the cleavage furrow.
Targeta 32
Pregunta
What is a common role of a non-motile primary cilium?
Resposta
Sensing and coordinating signals. It acts as a specialized signaling compartment.
Targeta 33
Pregunta
Which motor family drives sliding between neighboring microtubule doublets in a motile cilium?
Resposta
Axonemal dyneins. Structural constraints convert that sliding into bending.
Targeta 34
Pregunta
Does vesicle transport by itself identify a microtubule track?
Resposta
No. Vesicles can use microtubules or actin-based transport. The motor identity or filament composition supplies a better clue.
Targeta 35
Pregunta
A prompt asks for the filament family containing keratin. Is keratin alone the requested answer?
Resposta
No. Answer intermediate filaments. Keratin names a building protein, not the filament family.
Targeta 36
Pregunta
What microtubule pattern is commonly used to describe a primary cilium?
Resposta
The 9 + 0 pattern: nine outer doublets without a central pair. It is a typical description, not a universal rule for every cross-section.
Targeta 37
Pregunta
A filament is assembled from alpha–beta tubulin dimers. Which filament family is it?
Resposta
Microtubules.
Targeta 38
Pregunta
What does the centrosome do for microtubules in many animal cells?
Resposta
It acts as a microtubule-organizing center, helping nucleate and organize the microtubule array.
Targeta 39
Pregunta
A vesicle is moved by myosin. Which filament supplies its track?
Resposta
Actin. Myosin-based cargo transport uses actin filaments.
Targeta 40
Pregunta
Why can’t a 9 + 0 axoneme alone establish that a cilium is non-motile?
Resposta
Motile embryonic nodal cilia are a counterexample. Arrangement alone does not establish motility.
Targeta 41
Pregunta
What extra clue would help identify a fiber described only as supporting cell shape?
Resposta
Its protein composition or a specific structure it forms. All three major filament systems contribute to cell mechanics.
Targeta 42
Pregunta
Why is the claim that all intermediate filaments lie in the cytoplasm incorrect?
Resposta
Lamins form the nuclear lamina inside the nucleus.
Targeta 43
Pregunta
In a 9 + 2 axoneme, does the 9 count nine individual microtubules?
Resposta
No. It counts nine outer doublets. The central 2 counts two single microtubules.
Targeta 44
Pregunta
An ATP-powered motor uses either actin or microtubules. What missing information would identify its track?
Resposta
The motor family. Myosins use actin; kinesins and dyneins use microtubules. ATP use alone does not distinguish them.
Targeta 45
Pregunta
What missing detail would distinguish fibers described only as helping animal-cell division?
Resposta
The division structure or step. Spindle fibers are microtubules; the contractile ring contains actin.
Targeta 46
Pregunta
A student says microvilli are miniature cilia because both project from the cell. What core-filament correction is needed?
Resposta
Microvilli are supported by actin bundles; cilia have a microtubule-based core. Surface shape alone does not make them the same structure.
Targeta 47
Pregunta
In microtubule-based transport, how does the filament’s role differ from the motor’s?
Resposta
The microtubule supplies a track; kinesin or dynein supplies motor activity.
Targeta 48
Pregunta
What extra detail is needed to identify a cytoskeletal system described only as enabling cell movement?
Resposta
The type of movement. Actin supports crawling; microtubules and dyneins support ciliary or flagellar motion.
Targeta 49
Pregunta
Is it accurate to say that microtubules have no role in animal-cell cytokinesis because the ring uses actin?
Resposta
No. Microtubules also help coordinate cytokinesis, including positioning and organizing the division machinery.
Targeta 50
Pregunta
Is the cytoskeleton a permanent, unchanging scaffold?
Resposta
No. Its filaments and networks can assemble, disassemble, and reorganize as the cell’s needs change.
50 targetes
Cytoskeleton Flashcards: Fibers, Motors & Functions
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