Terminology

You should know, what these terms mean and you should be able to explain them in your own words.

microtubules . microfilaments (actin filaments) . microfibrils (cellulose fibres) . tubulin detyrosination . MAPs . kinesins . preprophase band . phragmoplast . cortical microtubules . microtubule-microfibril hypothesis . lodging .

German-English Glossary

Content

• You know the central components of the cytoskeleton and can name three differences between plants and animals

• You can explain what post-translational modifications are

• You can explain, how one can identify plant MAPs

• You can sketch down and correctly name microtubule arrays during the cell cycle

• You can explain, what role microtubules play for plant growth and how they were discovered

• You can explain for what purpose plant cells have actin filaments

Vertiefung (for Bachelor students)

1. How does the  ratio between lateral and longitudinal stress change in a cylindrical cell, when the diameter doubles?  

2. Actin and microtubules often run in parallel. How many actin filaments are needed to completely cover one microtubule from all sides?

3. When roots are treated with the microtubule-eliminating alkaloid colchicin, they form a strong swelling just behind the root tip. Can you explain this?

4. Do chloroplasts harbour a cytoskeleton? And what about mitochondria?

5. What is the C-terminal amino acid of human alpha tubulin? What that of Arabidopsis alpha tubulin?

6. What would you predict for actin configuration during gravitropic stimulation?

    

    

Special topic (Master students)

The plant cytoskeleton is conserved with respect to the building blocks, but diverse with respect to associated proteins. To find homologues, is not trivial, therefore. The task consists in searching homologues of a novel unconventional kinesin involved in cold sensing. more

Read more

• Purves, Biologie 7. Auflage, S. 95ff (Cytoskelett)
• Grundlagen der Biologie (1. Semester, Cytoskelett)
• Modellorganismen - Querschnittsthema Cytoskelett
• Review on the functions of plant microtubules. Nick 2012
• Animation on the behaviour of microtubules during plant-cell division - Nick 2008
• Short review on the actin-auxin oscillator Nick 2010

1. How does the  ratio between lateral and longitudinal stress change in a cylindrical cell, when the diameter doubles?  

2. Actin and microtubules often run in parallel. How many actin filaments are needed to completely cover one microtubule from all sides?

3. When roots are treated with the microtubule-eliminating alkaloid colchicin, they form a strong swelling just behind the root tip. Can you explain this?

4. Do chloroplasts harbour a cytoskeleton? And what about mitochondria?

5. What is the C-terminal amino acid of human alpha tubulin? What that of Arabidopsis alpha tubulin?