Cytoskeletal Highways

What am I looking at?

This is a single Sertoli cell from a mouse testis (within the testicle), with microtubules labeled in blue and green (1) and the protein myosin labeled in red (2).

Biology in the background

The cytoskeleton gives cells their structure and allows them to move. This image shows two important components of the cytoskeleton. The blue and green fibers (1) are microtubules, the cell’s molecular highways. Cellular components travel along microtubules to reach their destinations within the cell. While microtubules are important for movement within the cell, the red in this image (2) highlights the protein myosin, which is integral to the movement of the cell itself. This protein attaches to a different part of the cytoskeleton called actin filaments. It can push and pull these filaments, which are attached to the edge of the cell, resulting in locomotion.

A microtubule – in a mouse cell and a human cell alike – is about 25 nanometers in diameter, or roughly 300 times smaller than the width of a human hair. A myosin filament is about 1.5 micrometers long, or roughly 50 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Technique

This image was created using confocal microscopy.