What is a cytoskeleton? What are its main components in animal cells?
A cytoskeleton is a structure that acts as a support for the cell. It also maintains the cell shape, holds and moves organelles. It is made from a fibre network dispered in the cell cytoplasm, attached in the plasma membrane. The cytoskeleton has three components; microtubules, microfilaments and intermediate filaments. Each of these components have sub-divisions and functions of their own. For example, microtubules are heavily invovled with mitosis and form the mitotic spindle fibre, used by eukaryotes to segregate chromosomes during cell division.
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