Crescentin - Assembly of Filaments

Assembly of Filaments

Eukaryotic intermediate filament proteins assemble into filaments of 8-15 nm within the cell without the need for energy input, that is, no need for ATP or GTP. Ausmees et al. continued their crescentin research by testing whether the protein could assemble into filaments in this manner in vitro. They found that crescentin proteins were indeed able to form filaments about 10 nm wide, and that some of these filaments organized laterally into bundles, just as eukaryotic intermediate filaments do. The similarity of crescentin protein to intermediate filament proteins suggests an evolutionary linkage between these two cytoskeletal proteins.