Cytoskeleton Crew

It may surprise you to learn that cells have skeletons, too – a cytoskeleton. However, a cell’s skeleton is not made of bones but of a specific set of proteins that form filaments and fibers within the cell to give it structure. In this image, you can see two of the main types of proteins that compose a cytoskeleton: actin and tubulin.

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Image displaying the cytoskeleton, both actin and microtubules, in a cell

Cytoskeleton Crew

What am I looking at?

This is a type of cell originally derived from the kidney of an African green monkey and often used in the lab for experiments. You can see the protein called actin (1) labeled in orange/yellow and the protein called tubulin (2) labeled in white.

Biology in the background

Just like our bodies, cells need structure to maintain their shape, move, and transport materials. This structure comes from the cytoskeleton, which is made up of fibers known as microtubules (made of a protein called tubulin) and filaments (made of a protein called actin).

The tubulin forms large, tube-shaped fibers within the cell; these are mainly responsible for the position, movement, and transport of cellular components like organelles within the cell. You can think of microtubules as the transportation highways that internal cellular components move along. And the actin forms relatively small filaments in the cell; these are mainly responsible for the cell’s structure and the ability of certain cells to move around in their environment. You can think of actin filaments as the muscles of the cell to help it maintain its shape and allow it to move around.

A microtubule is about 25 nanometers across, or roughly 3,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. An actin filament is about 7 nanometers across, or roughly 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Technique

This image was created using fluorescence microscopy.