Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Systems of Intermediate Filaments

  • Chapter
Cytoskeleton

Part of the book series: Cellular Organelles ((CORG))

Abstract

Intermediate filaments (IFs), as indicated by their name, are thicker than actin filaments, but thinner than microtubules. Their diameter in electron microscopic sections is 8–12 nm (Fig. 3.1A).It is possible that IFs, in contrast to actin filaments and microtubules, are not universal components of the cytoskeleton of all eukaryotic cells.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Literature Cited

  • Aebi, U., Fowler, W. E., Rew, P., and Sun, T-T. (1983) The fibrillar substructure of keratin filaments unraveled, J. Cell Biol. 97:1131–1141.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Klymkowsky, M. W., Miller, R. H., and Lane, E. B. (1983) Morphology, behavior, and interaction of cultured epithelial cells after the antibody-induced disruption of keratin filament organization, J. Cell Biol. 96:494–509.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moll, R., Franke, W. W., Schiller, D. L., Geiger, B., and Krepier, R. (1982) The catalog of human cytokeratins: Pattern of expression in normal epithelia, tumors, and cultured cells.Cell 31:11–24.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quax-Jenken, Y., Quax, W., and Bloemendal, H. (1983) Primary and secondary structure of hamster vimentin predicted from the nucleotide sequence, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80:3548–3552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Additional Readings: General

  • Steinert, P. M., Jones, J. C. R., and Goldman, R. D. (1984) Intermediate filaments, J. Cell Biol. 99(1 pt2):22s-27s.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steinert, P. M., Steven, A. C., and Roop, D. R. (1985) The molecular biology of intermediate filaments, Cell 42:411–419.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Traub, P. (1985) Intermediate Filaments, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Tokyo, pp. 1–256.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, E., Fishman, D., Liem, R. K. H., and Sun T-T., eds. (1985) Intermediate filaments, Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 455:1–832.

    Google Scholar 

IF-proteins; structure of the filaments; assembly in vitro

  • Engel, A., Eichner, R., and Aebi, U. (1985) Polymorphism of reconstituted human epidermal keratin filaments: Determination of their mass-per-length and width by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), J. Ultrastruct. Res. 90:323–335.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, E., Kim, K. H., Hanukoglu, I., Marchuk, D., Tyner, A., and McCrohon, S. (1984) Influence of differential keratin gene expression on the structure and properties of the resulting 8-nm filaments, in Molecular Biology of the Cytoskeleton (G. G. Borisy, D. W. Cleveland, D. B. Murphy, eds.). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, pp. 381–393.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geisler, N., and Weber, K. (1982) The amino acid sequence of chicken muscle desmin provides a common structural model for intermediate filament proteins, EMBO J. 1:1649–1656.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Geisler, N., Fischer, S., Vandekerckhove, J., VanDamme, J., Flessmann, U., and Weber, K. (1985) Protein-chemical characterization of NF-H, the largest mammalian neurofilament component; intermediate filament-type sequences followed by a unique carboxy-terminal extension, EMBO J. 4:57–63.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Geisler, N., Kaufman, E., and Weber, K. (1985) Antiparallel orientation of the two double- stranded coiled-coils in the tetrameric protofilament unit of intermediate filaments, J. Moll. Biol. 182:173–177.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hanukoglu, I., and Fuchs, E. (1983) The cDNA sequence of a type II cytoskeletal keratin reveals constant and variable structural domains among keratins. Cell 33:915–224.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hatzfeld, M., and Franke, W. W. (1985) Pair formation and promiscuity of cytokeratins: Formation in vitro of heterotypic complexes and intermediate-sized filaments by homologous and heterologous recombinations of purified polypeptides, J. Cell Biol. 101:1826–1841.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, D., Geisler, N., and Weber, K. (1982) A periodic ultrastructure in intermediate filaments, J. Mol. Biol. 155:173–176.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ip, W., Hartzer, M. K., Pang, Y-Y.S., and Robson, R. M. (1985) Assembly of vimentin in vitro and its implications concerning the structure of intermediate filaments, J.Mol. Biol. 183:365–375.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jorcano, J. L., Franz, K. K., Rieger, M., Magim, T. M., and Franke, W. W. (1984) Identification of different types of keratin polypeptides distinguished within the acidic cytokeratins subfamily: Corresponding cytokeratins in diverse species, in Molecular Biology of the Cytoskeleton (G. G. Borisy, D. W. Cleveland, and D. B. Murphy, eds.). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, pp. 395–408.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann, E., Geisler, N., and Weber, K. (1984) SDS-PAGE strongly overestimates the molecular masses of the neurofilament proteins,FEBS Lett. 170:81–84.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krieg, T. M., Schäfer, M. P., Cheng, C. K., Filpula, D., Flaherty, P., Steinert, P. M., and Roop., D. R. (1985) Organization of a type I keratin gene. Evidence for evolution of intermediate filaments from a common ancestral gene, J. Biol. Chem. 260:5867–5870.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, D. (1983) Epinemin: A new protein associated with vimentin in non-neural cells, J. Cell Biol. 97:1891–1905.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, S. A., Balcarek, J. M., and Cowan, N. J. (1984) Structure of mouse glial fibrillary acidic protein and its expression by in situ hybridization using a cloned cDNA probe, in Molecular Biology of the Cytoskeleton (G. G. Borisy, D. W. Cleveland, and D. B. Murphy, eds.). Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, pp. 455–463.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieska, N., Yang, H-Y., and Goldman, R. D. (1985) Purification of the 300 K intermediate filament- associated protein and its in vitro recombination with intermediate filaments, J. Cell Biol. 101:802–813.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marchuk, D., McCrohon, S., and Fuchs, S. (1984) Remarkable conservation of structure among intermediate filament genes. Cell 39:491–498.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parry, D. A. D., Steven, A. C., and Steinert, P. M. (1985) The coiled-coil molecules of intermediate filaments consist of two parallel chains in exact axial register, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 127:1012–1018.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pruss, R. M., Mirsky, R., Raff, M. C., Thorpe, R., Dowding A. J., and Anderton, B. H. (1981) All classes of intermediate filaments share a common antigenic determinant defined by a monoclonal antibody,Cell 27:419–428.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quax, W., Quax-Jenken, I., van den Hevel, T., Ergerts, W. V., and Bloomendal, H. (1984) Organization and sequence of the genes for desmin and vimentin, in Molecular Biology of the Cytoskeleton, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, pp. 445–454.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinlan, R. A., Golberg, J. A., Schiller, D. L., Hatzfeld, M., and Franke, W. W. (1984) Heterotypic tetramer (A2D2) complexes of non-epidermal keratins isolated from cytoskeletons of rat hepa- tocytes and hepatoma cells, J. Mol. Biol. 178:365–388.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sandoval, I. V., Colaco, C. A. L. S., and Lazarides, E. (1983) Purification of the intermediate filament-associated protein, synemin, from chicken smooth muscle, J. Biol. Chem. 258:2568–2576.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sauk, J. J., Krumweide, M., Cocking-Johnson, D., and White, J. G. (1984) Reconstitution of cyto- keratin filaments invitro: Further evidence for the role of nonhelical peptides in filament assembly, J. Cell Biol. 99:1590–1597.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steinert, P. M., Cantieri, J. S., Teller, D. C., Lonsdale-Eccles, J. D., and Dale, D. A. (1981) Charac-152 terization of a class of cationic proteins that specifically interact with intermediate filaments, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78:4097–4101.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steinert, P. M., Rice, P. H., Roop, D. R., Trus, B. L, and Steven, A. C. (1983) Complete amino acid sequence of a mouse epidermal keratin subunit and implications for the structure of intermediate filaments. Nature 302:794–800.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steinert, P. M., Parry, D. A. D., Raccosin, E. L., Idler, W. W., Steven, A. C., Trus, B. Lq, and Roop, D. R. (1984) The complete cDNA and deduced amino acid sequence of a type II mouse epidermal keratin of 60,000 Da: Analysis of sequence differences between type I and II keratins, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81:5709–5713.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steven, A. C., Wall, J., Hainfeld, J., and Steinert, P. M. (1982) Structure of fibroblastic intermediate filaments: Analysis of scanning transmission electron microscopy, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 79:3101–3105.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Traub, P., and Vorgias, C. E. (1983) Involvement of the N-terminal polypeptide of vimentin in the formation of intermediate filaments, J. Cell Sci. 63:43–67.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, E., Cairncross, J. G., Yung, W. K. A., Garber, E. A., and Liem, R. K. H. (1983) An intermediate filament-associated protein, p50, recognized by monoclonal antibodies, J. Cell Biol. 97:1507–1514.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, K., and Heister, N. (1985) Intermediate filaments: Structural conservation and divergence, Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 455:126–143.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wiche, G., Herrmann, H., Leichtfried, F., and Pytela, R. (1982) Plectin: A high molecular weight cytoskeletal polypeptide component that copurifies with intermediate filaments of the vimentin type. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 46:475–482.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, J., Hutchison, S. B., and Liem, R. K. H. (1984) An isoelectric variant of the 150,000-dalton neurofilament polypeptide. Evidence that phosphorylation state affects its association with the filament, J. Biol. Chem. 259:10867–10874.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Intermediate filaments in the cells

  • Capetanaki, Y. C., Ngai, J., and Lazarides, E. (1984) Regulation of the expression of genes coding for the intermediate filament subunits vimentin, desmin, and glial fibrillary acidic protein, in Molecular Biology of the Cytoskeleton (G. G. Borisy, D. W. Cleveland, and D. B. Murphy, eds.), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, pp.415–434.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, D., Schermer, A., and Sun, T-T (1985) Classification of human epithelia and their neoplasms using monoclonal antibodies to keratins: Strategies, applications, and limitations. Lab. Invest. 52:243–256.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dahl, D., and Bignami, A. (1986) Neurofilament phosphorylation in development. A sign of axonal maturation? Exp. Cell Res. 162:220–230.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dawson, P. J., Hülms, J. S., and C. W. Lloyd (1985) Monoclonal antibody to intermediate filament antigen cross-reacts with higher plant cells, J.Cell Biol. 100:1793–1798.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eckert, B. S. (1985) Alteration of intermediate filament distribution in PtK cells by acrylamide, Eur. J. Cell. Biol. 37:169–174.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eckert, B. S., Caputi, S. E., and Warren, R. H. (1984) Dynamics of keratin filaments and the intermediate filament distribution center during shape change in PtK1 cells. Cell Motil. 4:169–182.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eichner, R., Bonitz, P., and Sun, T-T. (1964) Classification of epidermal keratins according to their immunoreactivity, isoelectric point, and mode of expression, J. Cell Biol. 98:1388–1396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franke, W. W., Schmid, E., Grund, C., and Geiger, B. (1982) Intermediate filament proteins in nonfilamentous structures: Transient disintegration in granular aggregates. Cell 30:103–113.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Franke, W. W., Schmid, E., Wellsteed, J., Grund, C., Gigi, O., and Geiger, B. (1983) Change of cytokeratin filament organization during the cell cycle: Selective masking of an immunologic determinant in interphase PtK2 cells, J.Cell Biol. 97:1255–1260.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Franke, W. W., Grund, C., Kuhn, C., Lehto, V-F., and Virtanen, I. (1984) Transient change of organization of vimentin filament during mitosis as demonstrated by a monoclonal antibody, Exp. Cell Res. 154:567–580.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Franke, W. W., Schmid, E., Mittnacht, S., Grund, C., and Jorcano, J. L. (1984) Intergration of different keratins into the same filament system after microinjection of mRNA for epidermal keratins into kidney epithelial cells. Cell 36:813–825.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Georgatos, S. D., Weaver, D. C., and Marches, V. T. (1985) Site specificity in vimentin-membrane interactions: Intermediate filament subunits associate with the plasma membrane via their head domains, J. Cell Biol. 100:1962–1967.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gilfix, B. M., and Eckert, R. L. (1985) Coordinate control by vitamin A of keratin gene expression in human keratinocytes, J. Biol Chem. 260:14026–14029.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Granger, B. L., and Lazarides, E. (1982) Structural associations of synemin and vimentin filaments in avian erythrocytes revealed by immunoelectron microscopy, Cell 30:263–275.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hirokawa, N., Glicksman, A., and Willard, M. B. (1984) Organization of mammalian neurofilament polypeptides within the neural cytoskeleton, J. Cell Biol 98:1523–1536.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ip, W., Danto, S. I., and Fischman, D. A. (1983) Detection of desmin-containing intermediate filaments in cultured muscle and nonmuscle cells by immunoelectron microscopy, J.Cell Biol 96:401–408.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jones J. G. R., Goldman, A. E., Yang, H-Y., and Goldman, R. D. (1985) The organizational fate of intermediate filament networks in two epithelial cell types during mitosis, J. Cell Biol 100:93–102.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Klymkowsky, M. W. (1981) Intermediate filaments in 3T3 cells collapse after intracellular injection of monoclonal anti-intermediate filament antibody. Nature 291:249–251.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kreis, T., Geiger, B., Schmidt, E., Jorcano, J. L., and Franke, W. W. (1983) De novo synthesis and specific assembly of keratin filaments in nonepithelial cells after microinjection of mRNA for epidermal keratin.Cell 32:1125–1137.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarides, E. (1982) Biochemical and immunocytological characterization of intermediate filaments in muscle cells, in Methods in Cell Biology, Vol. 25, The Cytoskeleton, Part B (L. Wilson, ed.). Academic Press, London, pp. 333–357.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Leterrier, J-F., Liem, R. K. H., and Shelanski, M. L. (1981) Preferential phosphorylation of the 150,000 molecular weight component of neurofilaments by a cyclic AMP-dependent, micro- tubule-associated protein kinase, J.Cell Biol 90:755–760.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, D. B., and Grasser, W. A. (1984) Intermediate filaments in the cytoskeleton of fish chrom- otophores, J. Cell Sci. 66:353–366.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Osborn, M., and Weber, K. (1982) Intermediate filaments: Cell-type-specific markers in differentiation and pathology. Cell 31:303–306.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Osborn, M., and Weber, K. (1983) Tumor diagnosis by intermediate filament typing: A novel tool for surgical pathology. Lab. Invest. 48:372–394.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paulin, D., Babinet, C., Weber, K., and Osborn, M. (1980) Antibodies as probes of cellular differentiation and cytoskeletal organization in the mouse blastocyst, Exp. Cell Res. 130:297–304.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Price, M. G., and Sanger, J. W. (1982) Intermediate filaments in striated muscle: A review of structural studies in embryonic and adult skeletal and cardiac muscle, in Cell and Muscle Motility, Vol. 3 (R. W. Dowben and J. W. Shay, eds.). Plenum Press, New York, pp. 1–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmid, E., Schiller, D. L., Grund, C., Stadler, J., and Franke, W. W. (1983) Tissue type-specific expression of intermediate filament proteins in a cultured epithelial cell line from bovine mammary gland, J. Cell Biol 96:37–50.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sun, T. T., Eichner, R., Schermer, A., Cooper, D., Nelson, W. G., and Weiss, R. A. (1984) Classification, expression and possible mechanisms of evolution of mammalian epithelial keratins: A unifying model, in Cancer Cells, Vol. 1, The Transformed Phenotype, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, pp. 169–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tokuyasu, K. T., Dutton, A. H., and Singer, S. J. (1983) Immunoelectron microscopic studies of desmin (skeletin) localization and intermediate filament organization in chicken cardiac muscle, J. Cell Biol 96:1736–1742.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tölle, H-G., Weber, K., and Osborn, M. (1986) Microinjection of monoclonal antibodies to vimentin, desmin, and GFA in cells which contain more than one IF type, Exp. Cell Res. 162:462–474.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Traub, P., and Nelson, W. J. (1981) Occurrence in various mammalian cells and tissues of the Ca2+-activated protease specific for the intermediate-sized filament proteins vimentin and desmin, Eur. J. Cell Biol 26:61–67.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tsukita, S., Tsukita, S., and Ishikawa, H. (1983) Association of actin and 10-nm filaments with the dense body in smooth muscle cells of the chicken gizzard. Cell Tissue Res. 229:233–242.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Walter, M. F., and Biessmann, H. (1984) Intermediate-sized filaments in Drosophila tissue culture cells, J. Cell Biol 99:1468–1477.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, K., and Ramirez-Mitchel, R. (1983) A network of transverse and longitudinal intermediate filaments is associated with sarcomeres of adult vertebrate skeletal muscle, J.Cell Biol. 96:562–570.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, K., Shaw, G., Osborn, M., Debus, E., and Geisler, N. (1983) Neurofilaments, a subclass of intermediate filaments: Structure and expression. Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. 48:(pt 2) 717–729.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wiche, G., Drepler, R., Artlieb, U., Pytela, R., and Denk, H. (1983) Occurrence and immunolocalization of plectin in tissues, J. Cell Biol. 97:887–901.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Research Center, Moscow State University, Moscow, USSR

    Alexander D. Bershadsky & Juri M. Vasiliev

Authors
  1. Alexander D. Bershadsky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Juri M. Vasiliev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1988 Plenum Press, New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bershadsky, A.D., Vasiliev, J.M. (1988). Systems of Intermediate Filaments. In: Cytoskeleton. Cellular Organelles. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5278-5_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5278-5_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-5280-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-5278-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation