Intermediate Filaments (Colloquium Series on Building Blocks of the Cell: Cell Structure and Function) - Softcover

Marceau, Normand; Loranger, Anne; Gilbert, Stéphane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1615045406 ISBN 13: 9781615045402

Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Life Science, 2014

Synopsis

Intermediate filaments (IFs), in concert with microfilaments (MFs) and microtubules (MTs), form the cytoskeleton, and each of these fibrillar networks exhibits rather unique structural and functional characteristics. Intermediate filaments were discovered in eukaryotic cells in the late 1960s, and their name comes from the fact that their diameter is intermediate between MFs and MTs. In contrast to the latter, IFs constitute a network that extends from the nuclear envelope throughout the cytoplasm, and in many cases, interact with cell surface domains involved in cell-cell and cell- matrix interactions. Several key features of their expression, assembly, structure and dynamics are highlighted in this eBook. For instance, IF proteins are encoded by several genes, which are classified into six types reflecting the tissues (cells) of origin. Moreover, IF proteins contain a conserved central a-helical (rod) domain flanked by N-terminal (head) and C-terminal (tail) globular domains that enables assembly of fibrous IFs exhibiting a tripartite structure. Although the rod domain is responsible for the formation of the coiled-coil framework and yields the main driving force during the IF protein assembly, the head and tail domains contribute to most of the structural heterogeneity of IF organization and undergo several types of post-translational modifications. Furthermore, the development of gene targeting methods to genetically knockout the expression of the IF genes in mice has uncovered the mechanical versus non-mechanical features of the IF networks, namely, their involvement in cell response to diverse forms of stress, growth stimulation, migration, or death insults. Finally, there is accumulating evidence revealing that the tissue and cell-type expression of IF genes reflects itself in the presence of causal or predisposition mutations responsible for numerous human tissue-specific diseases, known as IF-pathies.

Table of Contents: List of Abbreviations / Introduction / IFs as a Multigene Family of Filamentous Proteins / Nuclear Lamina / IF Functional Interplay with Cell Surface Domains and Organelles / IFs and Cell Specialization / IF Relevance to Human Diseases / Conclusion / References / Author Biographies

About this title

About the Author

Centre de recherche sur le cancer, Université Laval, and Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, Quebec City, Qc, Canada, G1R 2J6

Edition details

• Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Life Science
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1615045406
• ISBN 13: 9781615045402
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 122