TY - JOUR AU - Mencarelli, Caterina AU - Ciolfi, Silvia AU - Caroti, Daniela AU - Lupetti, Pietro AU - Dallai, Romano PY - 2011 DA - 2011/02/28 TI - Isomin: a novel cytoplasmic intermediate filament protein from an arthropod species JO - BMC Biology SP - 17 VL - 9 IS - 1 AB - The expression of intermediate filaments (IFs) is a hallmark feature of metazoan cells. IFs play a central role in cell organization and function, acting mainly as structural stress-absorbing elements. There is growing evidence to suggest that these cytoskeletal elements are also involved in the integration of signalling networks. According to their fundamental functions, IFs show a widespread phylogenetic expression, from simple diblastic animals up to mammals, and their constituent proteins share the same molecular organization in all species so far analysed. Arthropods represent a major exception in this scenario. Only lamins, the nuclear IF proteins, have so far been identified in the model organisms analysed; on this basis, it has been considered that arthropods do not express cytoplasmic IFs. SN - 1741-7007 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-9-17 DO - 10.1186/1741-7007-9-17 ID - Mencarelli2011 ER -