Actin filaments, polymers of the protein actin, are present in most eukaryotic cells and are essential for many of the cell’s movements, especially those involving the cell surface. Without actin filaments, for example, an animal cell could not crawl along a surface, engulf a large particle by phagocytosis, or divide in two.
B.
Like microtubules, many actin filaments are unstable, but by associating with other proteins they can also form stable structures in cells, such as the contractile apparatus of muscle cells. Actin filaments interact with a large number of actin-binding proteins that enable the filaments to serve a variety of functions in cells.
C.
Depending on which of these proteins they associate with, actin filaments can form stiff and stable structures, such as the microvilli on the epithelial cells lining the intestine or the small contractile bundles that can contract and act like tiny muscles in most animal cells .
D.
They can also form temporary structures, such as the dynamic protrusions formed at the leading edge of a crawling cell or the contractile ring that pinches the cytoplasm in two when an animal cell divides. Actin-dependent movements usually require actin’s association with a motor protein called myosin.