Downloaded from http://cshperspectives.cshlp.org/ on October 1, 2021 - Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Overview of the Cytoskeleton from an Evolutionary Perspective Thomas D. Pollard1 and Robert D. Goldman2 1Departments of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and Cell Biology ,Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8103 2Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60611 Correspondence:
[email protected] SUMMARY Organisms in the three domains of life depend on protein polymers to form a cytoskeleton that helps to establish their shapes, maintain their mechanical integrity, divide, and, in many cases, move. Eukaryotes have the most complex cytoskeletons, comprising three cytoskeletal poly- mers—actin filaments, intermediate filaments, and microtubules—acted on by three families of motor proteins (myosin, kinesin, and dynein). Prokaryotes have polymers of proteins ho- mologous to actin and tubulin but no motors, and a few bacteria have a protein related to intermediate filament proteins. Outline 1 Introduction—Overview of cellular 4 Overview of the evolution of the cytoskeleton functions 5 Conclusion 2 Structures of the cytoskeletal polymers References 3 Assembly of cytoskeletal polymers Editors: Thomas D. Pollard and Robert D. Goldman Additional Perspectives on The Cytoskeleton available at www.cshperspectives.org Copyright # 2018 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved; doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a030288 Cite this article as Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2018;10:a030288 1 Downloaded from http://cshperspectives.cshlp.org/ on October 1, 2021 - Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press T.D. Pollard and R.D. Goldman 1 INTRODUCTION—OVERVIEW OF CELLULAR contrast, intermediate filaments do not serve as tracks for FUNCTIONS molecular motors (reviewed by Herrmann and Aebi 2016) but, rather, are transported by these motors.