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.
Apie šį rinkinį
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.
Šio rinkinio kortelės
1 kortelė
Klausimas
What are the three major cytoskeletal filament families in animal cells?
Atsakymas
Actin filaments (microfilaments), microtubules, and intermediate filaments.
2 kortelė
Klausimas
Which protein builds microfilaments?
Atsakymas
Actin.
3 kortelė
Klausimas
Which two tubulin subunits pair to build microtubules?
Atsakymas
Alpha-tubulin and beta-tubulin. Each building unit is an alpha–beta tubulin dimer.
4 kortelė
Klausimas
Do all intermediate filaments use the same building protein?
Atsakymas
No. Different cells use different intermediate-filament proteins, such as keratins, vimentin, and nuclear lamins.
5 kortelė
Klausimas
What does filament polarity mean in the cytoskeleton?
Atsakymas
The two ends have different molecular structures. Plus and minus label distinct ends, not electrical charges.
6 kortelė
Klausimas
What is the basic shape of an actin filament?
Atsakymas
Two intertwined strands of actin subunits. It is a thin filament, not a hollow tube.
7 kortelė
Klausimas
Which major cytoskeletal filament forms a hollow tube?
Atsakymas
A microtubule.
8 kortelė
Klausimas
Which major cytoskeletal filament has a rope-like assembly of fibrous proteins?
Atsakymas
An intermediate filament.
9 kortelė
Klausimas
Which cytoskeletal filament is the track for myosin motors?
Atsakymas
An actin filament.
10 kortelė
Klausimas
Which major cytoskeletal filament family lacks distinct plus and minus ends?
Atsakymas
Intermediate filaments. Actin filaments and microtubules are polar.
11 kortelė
Klausimas
What directly powers the stepping of myosin, kinesin, and dynein motors?
Atsakymas
ATP hydrolysis.
12 kortelė
Klausimas
Which two motor-protein families move along microtubules?
Atsakymas
Kinesins and dyneins.
13 kortelė
Klausimas
Which filament network is especially prominent in the cortex just beneath an animal cell’s plasma membrane?
Atsakymas
Actin filaments. The cortex helps control cell shape and surface mechanics.
14 kortelė
Klausimas
Keratin networks belong to which cytoskeletal filament family?
Atsakymas
Intermediate filaments.
15 kortelė
Klausimas
What is microtubule dynamic instability?
Atsakymas
Switching between growth and shrinkage. A microtubule can change length as tubulin subunits are added or lost.
16 kortelė
Klausimas
A cargo moves by kinesin along a microtubule. Which component is the motor?
Atsakymas
Kinesin. The microtubule is the track.
17 kortelė
Klausimas
Which filaments form the supporting bundles inside microvilli?
Atsakymas
Actin filaments.
18 kortelė
Klausimas
Which proteins form the nuclear lamina beneath the inner nuclear membrane?
Atsakymas
Lamins, members of the intermediate-filament protein family.
19 kortelė
Klausimas
Which cytoskeletal filaments form the mitotic spindle?
Atsakymas
Microtubules. Spindle microtubules help organize and separate chromosomes.
20 kortelė
Klausimas
Cytoplasmic dynein carries cargo toward which end of a microtubule?
Atsakymas
The minus end.
21 kortelė
Klausimas
Which filament and motor form the main contractile machinery of the animal-cell cleavage ring?
Atsakymas
Actin filaments and myosin II.
22 kortelė
Klausimas
How can actin assembly help a crawling cell extend its leading edge?
Atsakymas
Growing actin filaments can push the plasma membrane outward.
23 kortelė
Klausimas
Which filaments form the axoneme, the internal framework of eukaryotic cilia and flagella?
Atsakymas
Microtubules.
24 kortelė
Klausimas
Conventional kinesin-1 carries cargo toward which end of a microtubule?
Atsakymas
The plus end.
25 kortelė
Klausimas
What mechanical role do intermediate-filament networks provide when a cell is stretched?
Atsakymas
They help distribute tensile stress and resist damage from stretching.
26 kortelė
Klausimas
In an animal-cell contractile ring, is myosin II a motor or an actin building subunit?
Atsakymas
A motor. Actin supplies the filament subunits.
27 kortelė
Klausimas
What does the typical 9 + 2 pattern of an airway motile cilium describe?
Atsakymas
Nine outer microtubule doublets around two central single microtubules.
28 kortelė
Klausimas
Does the name kinesin alone guarantee plus-end-directed movement?
Atsakymas
No. Kinesin families differ; some move toward minus ends. Specify the kinesin type before assigning a direction.
29 kortelė
Klausimas
How do the core filaments of microvilli differ from those of eukaryotic cilia?
Atsakymas
Microvilli have actin bundles; cilia have a microtubule-based axoneme.
30 kortelė
Klausimas
The nuclear lamina is built from which major filament family?
Atsakymas
Intermediate filaments, specifically lamins.
31 kortelė
Klausimas
In animal-cell division, which structure constricts the cell surface: the spindle or the contractile ring?
Atsakymas
The contractile ring. Its actin–myosin machinery narrows the cleavage furrow.
32 kortelė
Klausimas
What is a common role of a non-motile primary cilium?
Atsakymas
Sensing and coordinating signals. It acts as a specialized signaling compartment.
33 kortelė
Klausimas
Which motor family drives sliding between neighboring microtubule doublets in a motile cilium?
Atsakymas
Axonemal dyneins. Structural constraints convert that sliding into bending.
34 kortelė
Klausimas
Does vesicle transport by itself identify a microtubule track?
Atsakymas
No. Vesicles can use microtubules or actin-based transport. The motor identity or filament composition supplies a better clue.
35 kortelė
Klausimas
A prompt asks for the filament family containing keratin. Is keratin alone the requested answer?
Atsakymas
No. Answer intermediate filaments. Keratin names a building protein, not the filament family.
36 kortelė
Klausimas
What microtubule pattern is commonly used to describe a primary cilium?
Atsakymas
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 kortelė
Klausimas
A filament is assembled from alpha–beta tubulin dimers. Which filament family is it?
Atsakymas
Microtubules.
38 kortelė
Klausimas
What does the centrosome do for microtubules in many animal cells?
Atsakymas
It acts as a microtubule-organizing center, helping nucleate and organize the microtubule array.
39 kortelė
Klausimas
A vesicle is moved by myosin. Which filament supplies its track?
Atsakymas
Actin. Myosin-based cargo transport uses actin filaments.
40 kortelė
Klausimas
Why can’t a 9 + 0 axoneme alone establish that a cilium is non-motile?
Atsakymas
Motile embryonic nodal cilia are a counterexample. Arrangement alone does not establish motility.
41 kortelė
Klausimas
What extra clue would help identify a fiber described only as supporting cell shape?
Atsakymas
Its protein composition or a specific structure it forms. All three major filament systems contribute to cell mechanics.
42 kortelė
Klausimas
Why is the claim that all intermediate filaments lie in the cytoplasm incorrect?
Atsakymas
Lamins form the nuclear lamina inside the nucleus.
43 kortelė
Klausimas
In a 9 + 2 axoneme, does the 9 count nine individual microtubules?
Atsakymas
No. It counts nine outer doublets. The central 2 counts two single microtubules.
44 kortelė
Klausimas
An ATP-powered motor uses either actin or microtubules. What missing information would identify its track?
Atsakymas
The motor family. Myosins use actin; kinesins and dyneins use microtubules. ATP use alone does not distinguish them.
45 kortelė
Klausimas
What missing detail would distinguish fibers described only as helping animal-cell division?
Atsakymas
The division structure or step. Spindle fibers are microtubules; the contractile ring contains actin.
46 kortelė
Klausimas
A student says microvilli are miniature cilia because both project from the cell. What core-filament correction is needed?
Atsakymas
Microvilli are supported by actin bundles; cilia have a microtubule-based core. Surface shape alone does not make them the same structure.
47 kortelė
Klausimas
In microtubule-based transport, how does the filament’s role differ from the motor’s?
Atsakymas
The microtubule supplies a track; kinesin or dynein supplies motor activity.
48 kortelė
Klausimas
What extra detail is needed to identify a cytoskeletal system described only as enabling cell movement?
Atsakymas
The type of movement. Actin supports crawling; microtubules and dyneins support ciliary or flagellar motion.
49 kortelė
Klausimas
Is it accurate to say that microtubules have no role in animal-cell cytokinesis because the ring uses actin?
Atsakymas
No. Microtubules also help coordinate cytokinesis, including positioning and organizing the division machinery.
50 kortelė
Klausimas
Is the cytoskeleton a permanent, unchanging scaffold?
Atsakymas
No. Its filaments and networks can assemble, disassemble, and reorganize as the cell’s needs change.
50 kortelių
Cytoskeleton Flashcards: Fibers, Motors & Functions
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