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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Reconstituting and Characterizing Actin-Microtubule Composites with Tunable Motor-Driven Dynamics and Mechanics
Published on: August 25, 2022
Intracellular cytoskeletal elements and cytoskeletons in bacteria
Mohamed H F Madkour1, Frank Mayer
1Ain Shams University, Faculty of Agriculture, Central Laboratory, Electron Microscope Division, Cairo, Egypt. madkour@gmx.net
Abstract:
Within a short period of time after the discovery of bacterial cytoskletons, major progress had been made in areas such as general spatial layout of cytoskeletons, their involvement in a variety of cellfunctions (shape control, cell division, chromosome segregation, cell motility). This progress was achieved by application of advanced investigation techniques. Homologs of eukaryotic actin, tubulin, and intermediate filaments were found in bacteria; cytoskeletal proteins not closely or not at all related to any of these major cytoskeletal proteins were discovered in a number of bacteria such as Mycoplasmas, Spiroplasmas, Spirochetes, Treponema, Caulobacter. A structural role for bacterial elongation factor Tu was indicated. On the basis of this new thinking, new approaches in biotechnology and new drugs are on the way.
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