Hela cell with the Vimentin protein labeled and depth coded

Vimentin Dreamcatcher

Like Native American dreamcatchers made of strings stretched across a rigid frame, the cells in our body contain various ropelike structural elements – like these intermediate filaments of a protein called vimentin – that protect, support, and shape our cells.

Learn more

alertMedia For Educational Use Only

downloadDownload

Vimentin Dreamcatcher

Like Native American dreamcatchers made of strings stretched across a rigid frame, the cells in our body contain various ropelike structural elements – like these intermediate filaments of a protein called vimentin – that protect, support, and shape our cells.

What am I looking at?  

This is a COS-7 cell, a kidney cell derived from an African green monkey (Chlorocebus sabaeus). The color you see in the spiderweb-like pattern throughout this cell comes from labeling a protein called vimentin. The different colors indicate the depth that each filament is from the viewer, with warmer colors such as yellow and red being closer to the viewer and cooler colors such as blue and green being father from the viewer.

Biology in the background  

Just as the human body has a skeleton to give it structure and support, a cell has a cytoskeleton to give it shape and stability. Some of the main structures that make up a cell’s cytoskeleton are called intermediate filaments. They can be composed of a variety of proteins – including vimentin, the one that’s pictured here. The primary role of vimentin intermediate filaments is to provide mechanical stability to cells and tissues, which is particularly important in the skin and nervous system.

A single vimentin filament is about 10 nanometers thick, or roughly 7,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Technique  

 This image was created using fluorescence microscopy.

tagsTags
Contributor(s)

Andy Moore, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Research Campus