CYTOSKELETON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cytoskeleton mean? 

• CYTOSKELETON (noun)
  The noun CYTOSKELETON has 1 sense:

1. a microscopic network of actin filaments and microtubules in the cytoplasm of many living cells that gives the cell shape and coherence

  Familiarity information: CYTOSKELETON used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CYTOSKELETON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A microscopic network of actin filaments and microtubules in the cytoplasm of many living cells that gives the cell shape and coherence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("cytoskeleton" is a kind of...):

anatomical structure; bodily structure; body structure; complex body part; structure (a particular complex anatomical part of a living thing and its construction and arrangement)

Holonyms ("cytoskeleton" is a part of...):

cytol; cytoplasm (the protoplasm of a cell excluding the nucleus; is full of proteins that control cell metabolism)

 Context examples 

This allele, which encodes myosin-XVIIIa protein, plays a role in the modeling of the cytoskeleton.

(MYO18A wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

A structure in cells known to be vulnerable to cold is the microtubule cytoskeleton.

(Researchers develop “hibernation in a dish” to study how animals adapt to the cold, National Institutes of Health)

This gene is involved in both cytoskeleton modeling and cytokinesis.

(MYH9 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Similar to murine Cttn, cytoplasmic Cortactin is located in cell-substratum contact areas and contains one SH3 domain that may bind to the cytoskeleton.

(Cortactin, NCI Thesaurus)

Cells can migrate in a specific direction in response to extracellular signals through pathways that trigger changes in the cytoskeleton, particularly actin filaments, increasing lamellipodia and filopodia formation and decreasing focal adhesions.

(Cell Migration Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

This gene is involved in the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton.

(CDC42 Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

This protein is involved in the mediation of interactions between cadherins and the actin cytoskeleton.

(Catenin Alpha-1, NCI Thesaurus)

NF1 protein is found in all tissues in a large complex and may be associated with the intermediate filament cytoskeleton.

(Neurofibromin, NCI Thesaurus)

CD3 subunits may also associate with the cytoskeleton.

(CD3 Complex, NCI Thesaurus)

A protein complex that is involved in both serine/threonine phosphorylation and cytoskeleton remodeling in response to cellular stress.

(mTORC2, NCI Thesaurus)