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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.

Cartes de ce paquet

  1. Carte 1

    Question

    What are the three major cytoskeletal filament families in animal cells?

    Réponse

    Actin filaments (microfilaments), microtubules, and intermediate filaments.

  2. Carte 2

    Question

    Which protein builds microfilaments?

    Réponse

    Actin.

  3. Carte 3

    Question

    Which two tubulin subunits pair to build microtubules?

    Réponse

    Alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin. Each building unit is an alpha–beta tubulin dimer.

  4. Carte 4

    Question

    Do all intermediate filaments use the same building protein?

    Réponse

    No. Different cells use different intermediate-filament proteins, such as keratins, vimentin, and nuclear lamins.

  5. Carte 5

    Question

    What does filament polarity mean in the cytoskeleton?

    Réponse

    The two ends have different molecular structures. Plus and minus label distinct ends, not electrical charges.

  6. Carte 6

    Question

    What is the basic shape of an actin filament?

    Réponse

    Two intertwined strands of actin subunits. It is a thin filament, not a hollow tube.

  7. Carte 7

    Question

    Which major cytoskeletal filament forms a hollow tube?

    Réponse

    A microtubule.

  8. Carte 8

    Question

    Which major cytoskeletal filament has a rope-like assembly of fibrous proteins?

    Réponse

    An intermediate filament.

  9. Carte 9

    Question

    Which cytoskeletal filament is the track for myosin motors?

    Réponse

    An actin filament.

  10. Carte 10

    Question

    Which major cytoskeletal filament family lacks distinct plus and minus ends?

    Réponse

    Intermediate filaments. Actin filaments and microtubules are polar.

  11. Carte 11

    Question

    What directly powers the stepping of myosin, kinesin, and dynein motors?

    Réponse

    ATP hydrolysis.

  12. Carte 12

    Question

    Which two motor-protein families move along microtubules?

    Réponse

    Kinesins and dyneins.

  13. Carte 13

    Question

    Which filament network is especially prominent in the cortex just beneath an animal cell’s plasma membrane?

    Réponse

    Actin filaments. The cortex helps control cell shape and surface mechanics.

  14. Carte 14

    Question

    Keratin networks belong to which cytoskeletal filament family?

    Réponse

    Intermediate filaments.

  15. Carte 15

    Question

    What is microtubule dynamic instability?

    Réponse

    Switching between growth and shrinkage. A microtubule can change length as tubulin subunits are added or lost.

  16. Carte 16

    Question

    A cargo moves by kinesin along a microtubule. Which component is the motor?

    Réponse

    Kinesin. The microtubule is the track.

  17. Carte 17

    Question

    Which filaments form the supporting bundles inside microvilli?

    Réponse

    Actin filaments.

  18. Carte 18

    Question

    Which proteins form the nuclear lamina beneath the inner nuclear membrane?

    Réponse

    Lamins, members of the intermediate-filament protein family.

  19. Carte 19

    Question

    Which cytoskeletal filaments form the mitotic spindle?

    Réponse

    Microtubules. Spindle microtubules help organize and separate chromosomes.

  20. Carte 20

    Question

    Cytoplasmic dynein carries cargo toward which end of a microtubule?

    Réponse

    The minus end.

  21. Carte 21

    Question

    Which filament and motor form the main contractile machinery of the animal-cell cleavage ring?

    Réponse

    Actin filaments and myosin II.

  22. Carte 22

    Question

    How can actin assembly help a crawling cell extend its leading edge?

    Réponse

    Growing actin filaments can push the plasma membrane outward.

  23. Carte 23

    Question

    Which filaments form the axoneme, the internal framework of eukaryotic cilia and flagella?

    Réponse

    Microtubules.

  24. Carte 24

    Question

    Conventional kinesin-1 carries cargo toward which end of a microtubule?

    Réponse

    The plus end.

  25. Carte 25

    Question

    What mechanical role do intermediate-filament networks provide when a cell is stretched?

    Réponse

    They help distribute tensile stress and resist damage from stretching.

  26. Carte 26

    Question

    In an animal-cell contractile ring, is myosin II a motor or an actin building subunit?

    Réponse

    A motor. Actin supplies the filament subunits.

  27. Carte 27

    Question

    What does the typical 9 + 2 pattern of an airway motile cilium describe?

    Réponse

    Nine outer microtubule doublets around two central single microtubules.

  28. Carte 28

    Question

    Does the name kinesin alone guarantee plus-end-directed movement?

    Réponse

    No. Kinesin families differ; some move toward minus ends. Specify the kinesin type before assigning a direction.

  29. Carte 29

    Question

    How do the core filaments of microvilli differ from those of eukaryotic cilia?

    Réponse

    Microvilli have actin bundles; cilia have a microtubule-based axoneme.

  30. Carte 30

    Question

    The nuclear lamina is built from which major filament family?

    Réponse

    Intermediate filaments, specifically lamins.

  31. Carte 31

    Question

    In animal-cell division, which structure constricts the cell surface: the spindle or the contractile ring?

    Réponse

    The contractile ring. Its actin–myosin machinery narrows the cleavage furrow.

  32. Carte 32

    Question

    What is a common role of a non-motile primary cilium?

    Réponse

    Sensing and coordinating signals. It acts as a specialized signaling compartment.

  33. Carte 33

    Question

    Which motor family drives sliding between neighboring microtubule doublets in a motile cilium?

    Réponse

    Axonemal dyneins. Structural constraints convert that sliding into bending.

  34. Carte 34

    Question

    Does vesicle transport by itself identify a microtubule track?

    Réponse

    No. Vesicles can use microtubules or actin-based transport. The motor identity or filament composition supplies a better clue.

  35. Carte 35

    Question

    A prompt asks for the filament family containing keratin. Is keratin alone the requested answer?

    Réponse

    No. Answer intermediate filaments. Keratin names a building protein, not the filament family.

  36. Carte 36

    Question

    What microtubule pattern is commonly used to describe a primary cilium?

    Réponse

    The 9 + 0 pattern: nine outer doublets without a central pair. It is a typical description, not a universal rule for every cross-section.

  37. Carte 37

    Question

    A filament is assembled from alpha–beta tubulin dimers. Which filament family is it?

    Réponse

    Microtubules.

  38. Carte 38

    Question

    What does the centrosome do for microtubules in many animal cells?

    Réponse

    It acts as a microtubule-organizing center, helping nucleate and organize the microtubule array.

  39. Carte 39

    Question

    A vesicle is moved by myosin. Which filament supplies its track?

    Réponse

    Actin. Myosin-based cargo transport uses actin filaments.

  40. Carte 40

    Question

    Why can’t a 9 + 0 axoneme alone establish that a cilium is non-motile?

    Réponse

    Motile embryonic nodal cilia are a counterexample. Arrangement alone does not establish motility.

  41. Carte 41

    Question

    What extra clue would help identify a fiber described only as supporting cell shape?

    Réponse

    Its protein composition or a specific structure it forms. All three major filament systems contribute to cell mechanics.

  42. Carte 42

    Question

    Why is the claim that all intermediate filaments lie in the cytoplasm incorrect?

    Réponse

    Lamins form the nuclear lamina inside the nucleus.

  43. Carte 43

    Question

    In a 9 + 2 axoneme, does the 9 count nine individual microtubules?

    Réponse

    No. It counts nine outer doublets. The central 2 counts two single microtubules.

  44. Carte 44

    Question

    An ATP-powered motor uses either actin or microtubules. What missing information would identify its track?

    Réponse

    The motor family. Myosins use actin; kinesins and dyneins use microtubules. ATP use alone does not distinguish them.

  45. Carte 45

    Question

    What missing detail would distinguish fibers described only as helping animal-cell division?

    Réponse

    The division structure or step. Spindle fibers are microtubules; the contractile ring contains actin.

  46. Carte 46

    Question

    A student says microvilli are miniature cilia because both project from the cell. What core-filament correction is needed?

    Réponse

    Microvilli are supported by actin bundles; cilia have a microtubule-based core. Surface shape alone does not make them the same structure.

  47. Carte 47

    Question

    In microtubule-based transport, how does the filament’s role differ from the motor’s?

    Réponse

    The microtubule supplies a track; kinesin or dynein supplies motor activity.

  48. Carte 48

    Question

    What extra detail is needed to identify a cytoskeletal system described only as enabling cell movement?

    Réponse

    The type of movement. Actin supports crawling; microtubules and dyneins support ciliary or flagellar motion.

  49. Carte 49

    Question

    Is it accurate to say that microtubules have no role in animal-cell cytokinesis because the ring uses actin?

    Réponse

    No. Microtubules also help coordinate cytokinesis, including positioning and organizing the division machinery.

  50. Carte 50

    Question

    Is the cytoskeleton a permanent, unchanging scaffold?

    Réponse

    No. Its filaments and networks can assemble, disassemble, and reorganize as the cell’s needs change.

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Cytoskeleton Flashcards: Fibers, Motors & Functions

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