Cytoskeleton

Now this is a story all about how

A cell is shaped and moves all around

And I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there

We’ll tell you how actin can grow and disappear out of thin air

From g-actin f-actin is born and raised

In the cortex is where it spends most of its days

Contracting, Migrating, dividing all cool

And to do all this ATP is the tool

When actin filaments undergo treadmilling it’s good

So the cell can move forward through the neighborhood

The plus end adds while the minus end’s scared

He says “I’m losing all the g-actin out of my derriere”

ATP bound g-actin day after day

But ATP sent G-atin on its way

Cytochalasin binds to prohibit

F-actin and tells g-actin “you can’t stick it”

Phalloidin, yo, this drug is good

Stabilizing, no depolymerization in the hood

Filament branches at 70 degrees right?

Hmmmm Arp2/3 be just right

There’s formin, profilin, and all that

Hanging at the plus end, that’s where it’s at

Formin adds monomers there

While profilin helps formin, a perfect pair

Cofilin does the opposite we don’t doubt

It cuts the filament, G-actin ADP is pulled out

Myosin’s the plus end motor protein here

Moves cargo with its tail, vesicle on the rear

It whistles for ATP and when it appears

The head hydrolyzes it and the plus end nears

Myosin drives retrograde flow we swear

Pulls the filament back, an actomyosin affair

For a filament actin is pretty great

We yelled to Lowery “Yo Prof smell ya later”

Looked towards the midterm, we finally there

Snatching some A’s as the Prince of Bel-Air