Answer
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Eukaryotic cells, and especially animal cells, have large and complex cytoskeletons because they perform a variety of functions that are critical for cell survival, such as:
- Maintaining cell shape and structure: The cytoskeleton provides the cell with structural support, maintaining its shape and preventing it from collapsing.
- Cell motility: The cytoskeleton allows cells to move, either by moving the entire cell (as in crawling or swimming) or by moving organelles within the cell.
- Intracellular transport: The cytoskeleton provides tracks along which vesicles and other cellular components can move within the cell.
- Cell division: The cytoskeleton is involved in the separation of chromosomes during cell division.
Animal cells and bacteria that rely on the eukaryotic cytoskeleton differ in the following ways:
- Compared to microorganisms, animal cells have a more intricate cytoskeleton. Microfilaments, intermediate filaments, and microtubules are the three primary forms of cytoskeletal filaments found in animal cells, but only one or two types are commonly seen in bacteria.
The complexity of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton allows animal cells to perform a wide range of functions that bacteria cannot. This is one of the many reasons why eukaryotic cells are more complex than prokaryotic cells.
