Intermediate filaments are a large family of proteins that are the cytoskeletal elements involved in a number of skin, liver, neuromuscular, cardiac, eye and hair diseases. Intermediate filament genes are regulated in a tissue-and cell type-specific manner and their polymerized protein products protects the cells and tissue they are part of against a variety of mechanical and nonmechanical stresses. This book provides a comprehensive resource of methodology essentials, describing a variety of essential tools and assays for studying intermediate filaments. The book provides user-friendly advice and protocols covering all aspects of intermediate filaments including protein isolation and structure, protein and gene regulation, relationship to disease and apoptosis, and associated proteins. Both mammalian and non-mammalian systems and animal models are covered, making this book a must-have for any investigator wishing to study IF genes or their protein products. * Covers intermediate filaments from crystallography, protein chemistry, cell and molecular biology, microrheology, gene regulation, to animal models and human disease * Practical and user-friendly with detailed "how-to-protocols and "tricks of the trade" * Includes detailed tables of useful reagents, vendors and web links

Intermediate Filament Proteins, the latest volume in the Methods in Enzymology series covers all the intermediate filaments in vertebrates and invertebrates, providing a unique understanding of the multiple different tissue-specific intermediate filaments. This volume also covers the latest methods that are currently being used to study intermediate filament protein function and dynamics. It will be an important companion for any experimentalist interesting in studying this protein family in their cell or organism model system.

The cytoskeleton is the intracellular filament system that controls the morphology of a cell, allows it to move, and provides trafficking routes for intracellular transport. It comprises three major filament systems-actin, microtubules, and intermediate filaments-along with a host of adaptors, regulators, molecular motors, and additional structural proteins. This textbook presents a comprehensive and up-to-date view of the cytoskeleton, cataloguing its many different components and explaining how they are functionally integrated in different cellular processes. It starts by laying out the basic molecular hardware, before describing in detail how these components are assembled in cells and linked to neighboring cells and the extracellular matrix to maintain tissue architecture. It then surveys the roles of the cytoskeleton in processes such as intracellular transport, cell motility, signal transduction, and cell division. The book is thus essential reading for students learning about intracellular structure. It also represents a vital reference for all cell and developmental biologists working in this field.

Mechanics of Motor Proteins and the Cytoskeleton provides a physical foundation for molecular mechanics. Part I explains how small particles like proteins respond to mechanical, thermal, and chemical forces, Part II focuses on cytoskeletal filaments, and Part III focuses on motor proteins. The treatments are unified in the respect that they are organized around principles rather than proteins: chapters are centred on topics such as structure, chemistry, and mechanics, and different filaments or motors are discussed together.

"Yet another cell and molecular biology book? At the very least, you would think that if I was going to write a textbook, I should write one in an area that really needs one instead of a subject that already has multiple excellent and definitive books. So, why write this book, then? First, it's a course that I have enjoyed teaching for many years, so I am very familiar with what a student really needs to take away from this class within the time constraints of a semester. Second, because it is a course that many students take, there is a greater opportunity to make an impact on more students' pocketbooks than if I were to start off writing a book for a highly specialized upper- level course. And finally, it was fun to research and write, and can be revised easily for inclusion as part of our next textbook, High School Biology."--Open Textbook Library.