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.
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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.
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Kaart 1
Küsimus
What are the three major cytoskeletal filament families in animal cells?
Vastus
Actin filaments (microfilaments), microtubules, and intermediate filaments.
Kaart 2
Küsimus
Which protein builds microfilaments?
Vastus
Actin.
Kaart 3
Küsimus
Which two tubulin subunits pair to build microtubules?
Vastus
Alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin. Each building unit is an alpha–beta tubulin dimer.
Kaart 4
Küsimus
Do all intermediate filaments use the same building protein?
Vastus
No. Different cells use different intermediate-filament proteins, such as keratins, vimentin, and nuclear lamins.
Kaart 5
Küsimus
What does filament polarity mean in the cytoskeleton?
Vastus
The two ends have different molecular structures. Plus and minus label distinct ends, not electrical charges.
Kaart 6
Küsimus
What is the basic shape of an actin filament?
Vastus
Two intertwined strands of actin subunits. It is a thin filament, not a hollow tube.
Kaart 7
Küsimus
Which major cytoskeletal filament forms a hollow tube?
Vastus
A microtubule.
Kaart 8
Küsimus
Which major cytoskeletal filament has a rope-like assembly of fibrous proteins?
Vastus
An intermediate filament.
Kaart 9
Küsimus
Which cytoskeletal filament is the track for myosin motors?
Vastus
An actin filament.
Kaart 10
Küsimus
Which major cytoskeletal filament family lacks distinct plus and minus ends?
Vastus
Intermediate filaments. Actin filaments and microtubules are polar.
Kaart 11
Küsimus
What directly powers the stepping of myosin, kinesin, and dynein motors?
Vastus
ATP hydrolysis.
Kaart 12
Küsimus
Which two motor-protein families move along microtubules?
Vastus
Kinesins and dyneins.
Kaart 13
Küsimus
Which filament network is especially prominent in the cortex just beneath an animal cell’s plasma membrane?
Vastus
Actin filaments. The cortex helps control cell shape and surface mechanics.
Kaart 14
Küsimus
Keratin networks belong to which cytoskeletal filament family?
Vastus
Intermediate filaments.
Kaart 15
Küsimus
What is microtubule dynamic instability?
Vastus
Switching between growth and shrinkage. A microtubule can change length as tubulin subunits are added or lost.
Kaart 16
Küsimus
A cargo moves by kinesin along a microtubule. Which component is the motor?
Vastus
Kinesin. The microtubule is the track.
Kaart 17
Küsimus
Which filaments form the supporting bundles inside microvilli?
Vastus
Actin filaments.
Kaart 18
Küsimus
Which proteins form the nuclear lamina beneath the inner nuclear membrane?
Vastus
Lamins, members of the intermediate-filament protein family.
Kaart 19
Küsimus
Which cytoskeletal filaments form the mitotic spindle?
Vastus
Microtubules. Spindle microtubules help organize and separate chromosomes.
Kaart 20
Küsimus
Cytoplasmic dynein carries cargo toward which end of a microtubule?
Vastus
The minus end.
Kaart 21
Küsimus
Which filament and motor form the main contractile machinery of the animal-cell cleavage ring?
Vastus
Actin filaments and myosin II.
Kaart 22
Küsimus
How can actin assembly help a crawling cell extend its leading edge?
Vastus
Growing actin filaments can push the plasma membrane outward.
Kaart 23
Küsimus
Which filaments form the axoneme, the internal framework of eukaryotic cilia and flagella?
Vastus
Microtubules.
Kaart 24
Küsimus
Conventional kinesin-1 carries cargo toward which end of a microtubule?
Vastus
The plus end.
Kaart 25
Küsimus
What mechanical role do intermediate-filament networks provide when a cell is stretched?
Vastus
They help distribute tensile stress and resist damage from stretching.
Kaart 26
Küsimus
In an animal-cell contractile ring, is myosin II a motor or an actin building subunit?
Vastus
A motor. Actin supplies the filament subunits.
Kaart 27
Küsimus
What does the typical 9 + 2 pattern of an airway motile cilium describe?
Vastus
Nine outer microtubule doublets around two central single microtubules.
Kaart 28
Küsimus
Does the name kinesin alone guarantee plus-end-directed movement?
Vastus
No. Kinesin families differ; some move toward minus ends. Specify the kinesin type before assigning a direction.
Kaart 29
Küsimus
How do the core filaments of microvilli differ from those of eukaryotic cilia?
Vastus
Microvilli have actin bundles; cilia have a microtubule-based axoneme.
Kaart 30
Küsimus
The nuclear lamina is built from which major filament family?
Vastus
Intermediate filaments, specifically lamins.
Kaart 31
Küsimus
In animal-cell division, which structure constricts the cell surface: the spindle or the contractile ring?
Vastus
The contractile ring. Its actin–myosin machinery narrows the cleavage furrow.
Kaart 32
Küsimus
What is a common role of a non-motile primary cilium?
Vastus
Sensing and coordinating signals. It acts as a specialized signaling compartment.
Kaart 33
Küsimus
Which motor family drives sliding between neighboring microtubule doublets in a motile cilium?
Vastus
Axonemal dyneins. Structural constraints convert that sliding into bending.
Kaart 34
Küsimus
Does vesicle transport by itself identify a microtubule track?
Vastus
No. Vesicles can use microtubules or actin-based transport. The motor identity or filament composition supplies a better clue.
Kaart 35
Küsimus
A prompt asks for the filament family containing keratin. Is keratin alone the requested answer?
Vastus
No. Answer intermediate filaments. Keratin names a building protein, not the filament family.
Kaart 36
Küsimus
What microtubule pattern is commonly used to describe a primary cilium?
Vastus
The 9 + 0 pattern: nine outer doublets without a central pair. It is a typical description, not a universal rule for every cross-section.
Kaart 37
Küsimus
A filament is assembled from alpha–beta tubulin dimers. Which filament family is it?
Vastus
Microtubules.
Kaart 38
Küsimus
What does the centrosome do for microtubules in many animal cells?
Vastus
It acts as a microtubule-organizing center, helping nucleate and organize the microtubule array.
Kaart 39
Küsimus
A vesicle is moved by myosin. Which filament supplies its track?
Vastus
Actin. Myosin-based cargo transport uses actin filaments.
Kaart 40
Küsimus
Why can’t a 9 + 0 axoneme alone establish that a cilium is non-motile?
Vastus
Motile embryonic nodal cilia are a counterexample. Arrangement alone does not establish motility.
Kaart 41
Küsimus
What extra clue would help identify a fiber described only as supporting cell shape?
Vastus
Its protein composition or a specific structure it forms. All three major filament systems contribute to cell mechanics.
Kaart 42
Küsimus
Why is the claim that all intermediate filaments lie in the cytoplasm incorrect?
Vastus
Lamins form the nuclear lamina inside the nucleus.
Kaart 43
Küsimus
In a 9 + 2 axoneme, does the 9 count nine individual microtubules?
Vastus
No. It counts nine outer doublets. The central 2 counts two single microtubules.
Kaart 44
Küsimus
An ATP-powered motor uses either actin or microtubules. What missing information would identify its track?
Vastus
The motor family. Myosins use actin; kinesins and dyneins use microtubules. ATP use alone does not distinguish them.
Kaart 45
Küsimus
What missing detail would distinguish fibers described only as helping animal-cell division?
Vastus
The division structure or step. Spindle fibers are microtubules; the contractile ring contains actin.
Kaart 46
Küsimus
A student says microvilli are miniature cilia because both project from the cell. What core-filament correction is needed?
Vastus
Microvilli are supported by actin bundles; cilia have a microtubule-based core. Surface shape alone does not make them the same structure.
Kaart 47
Küsimus
In microtubule-based transport, how does the filament’s role differ from the motor’s?
Vastus
The microtubule supplies a track; kinesin or dynein supplies motor activity.
Kaart 48
Küsimus
What extra detail is needed to identify a cytoskeletal system described only as enabling cell movement?
Vastus
The type of movement. Actin supports crawling; microtubules and dyneins support ciliary or flagellar motion.
Kaart 49
Küsimus
Is it accurate to say that microtubules have no role in animal-cell cytokinesis because the ring uses actin?
Vastus
No. Microtubules also help coordinate cytokinesis, including positioning and organizing the division machinery.
Kaart 50
Küsimus
Is the cytoskeleton a permanent, unchanging scaffold?
Vastus
No. Its filaments and networks can assemble, disassemble, and reorganize as the cell’s needs change.
50 kaarti
Cytoskeleton Flashcards: Fibers, Motors & Functions
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