This book is directed at advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students-and their teachers-who are involved in those areas of cell biology which require a basic knowledge of cytoskeletal structure, parti cularly with respect to cell motility. It contains a core of basic information on the cytoskeleton and focuses especially on its functional aspects, from the swimming of spermatozoa to the crawling of cultured cells across their culture dish; from the transport of vesicles and organelles along nerve axons, to the orderly segregation of chromosomes at mitosis. Cytoskeleton research spans a wide range of scientific disciplines. I t is as important for students or research workers investigating, for example, the deposition of the higher plant cell wall to have easy access to a core of basic information regarding microtubules as it is for someone interested in endocytosis and the fate of cell surface receptors. The authors are involved in the teaching of the cytoskeleton and cell motility at all levels of undergraduat~ study at University College London, but each has a research interest in different aspects of the subject: TMP in amoeboid locomotion, CAK in gliding motility and JSH in cilia, flagella and mitosis.

Zusammenfassung
Presents essential information on the cytoskeleton, focusing especially on its functional aspects... - Sci Tech Book News; The text is comprehensive, clear and easy to understand. European Journal of Protistol; A very interesting and useful book. - Gen. Pharmac; Unlike most textbooks, this one can and will be read from cover to cover......a wonderful introduction to the fantastic and humbling variety of microscopic motile systems; it is written in a readable style that will be enjoyed by many students and experts alike. - Quarterly Review of Biology

Inhalt
1 Introduction.- 2 The Molecular Components of the Cytoskeleton.- 2.1 Actin and actin-associated proteins.- 2.2 Microtubules and microtubule-associated proteins.- 2.3 Intermediate filaments.- 2.4 Summary.- 3 Movement Within Cells.- 3.1 Axonal transport.- 3.2 Intracellular motility in the Protozoa.- 3.3 Cytoplasmic transport in the ovaries of hemipteran insects.- 3.4 Movement of pigment granules in chromatophores.- 3.5 Cytoplasmic streaming in plant cells.- 3.6 Summary.- 4 Mitosis.- 4.1 Basic steps of mitosis.- 4.2 The mitotic spindle: general properties and design principles.- 4.3 Organisation of spindle microtubules.- 4.4 Mechanisms of anaphase, chromosome movement.- 4.5 Summary and conclusions.- 5 Cilia and Flagella.- 5.1 Distribution and waveforms.- 5.2 Basal bodies and rootlets.- 5.3 Structure of the axoneme.- 5.4 Extra-axonemal components.- 5.5 Membrane specialisations.- 5.6 Biochemical complexity of the axoneme.- 5.7 The sliding microtubule model.- 5.8 Behavioural responses of microorganisms and the control of ciliary and flagellar beating.- 6 Crawling Movements.- 6.1 Common features of crawling locomotion.- 6.2 Amoeboid movement.- 6.3 Chemotaxis.- 6.4 Tissue cell locomotion.- 6.5 Myosin and crawling locomotion.- 7 Cell Surface Motility.- 7.1 General account.- 7.2 Gliding.- 7.3 Summary.- 8 Other Mechanisms for Producing Force and Movements.- 8.1 Contractile phenomena.- 8.2 Crawling in nematode sperm.- Further Reading.