Cytoskeleton and motility Practice Questions
21 free Cytoskeleton and motility practice questions for the USMLE Step 1, each with the correct answer and a detailed explanation. Open any question below, or take the full set as an interactive quiz.
Questions
21 questions
All Cytoskeleton and motility questions
- Q1. Which of the following is NOT one of the three principal filament types of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton?
- Q2. Which cytoskeletal filament type is primarily responsible for resisting compressive forces within the cell and serving as tracks for intracellular vesicle tran…
- Q3. Which cytoskeletal component is most directly involved in generating protrusive structures like lamellipodia and filopodia during cell migration?
- Q4. Which cytoskeletal element is most important for maintaining tensile strength and anchoring organelles, rather than rapid remodeling like microfilaments or mic…
- Q5. During mitosis, which cytoskeletal structure is primarily responsible for separating sister chromatids and segregating chromosomes to opposite poles?
- Q6. What is the approximate diameter of actin (microfilament) filaments in the cytoskeleton?
- Q7. Which motor protein moves cargo toward the minus end of microtubules — i.e., toward the cell center (centrosome)?
- Q8. Which cytoskeletal filament is least dynamic (i.e., most stable) under normal conditions, contributing to long-term structural integrity of tissues?
- Q9. Which step is NOT directly dependent on actin and myosin-mediated cytoskeletal contraction during cell motility?
- Q10. Which cytoskeletal filament is the main structural element of eukaryotic cilia and flagella, enabling their motility?
- Q11. What is the role of actin polymerization at the leading edge of a migrating cell?
- Q12. Which cytoskeletal element would most likely be disrupted in a disease causing fragility of skin epithelial cells under mechanical stress?
- Q13. Which cytoskeletal filaments are most directly involved in cytokinesis (cell division) during cleavage of a dividing cell in animal cells?
- Q14. Which statement best captures the dynamic nature of the cytoskeleton in a typical eukaryotic cell?
- Q15. Which of the following cytoskeletal processes would most likely be impaired by a toxin that inhibits tubulin polymerization?
- Q16. Which class of proteins links cytoskeletal filaments to the plasma membrane or to other cytoskeletal elements to coordinate cellular architecture and signal tr…
- Q17. Which of the following motor proteins utilizes ATP to slide along actin filaments and generate contractile force in muscle and nonmuscle cells?
- Q18. During directed cell migration, which cytoskeletal filament system and associated dynamics are mainly responsible for establishing cell polarity (front–rear ax…
- Q19. Which cytoskeletal alteration would most likely impair endocytosis and exocytosis processes dependent on vesicle transport?
- Q20. Which cytoskeletal element and associated molecular motors are primarily responsible for retrograde (toward nucleus) vesicular transport in neurons?
- Q21. Which of the following best describes how cytoskeletal dysfunction could contribute to neurodegenerative or muscular diseases?