Intermediate filament structure and assembly

Intermediate filaments are constructed from two-chain a-helical coiled-coil molecules arranged on an imperfect helical lattice. Filament structure and assembly can be influenced at several different structural levels, including molecular structure, oligomer formation and filament nucleation and elongation. Consequently, it can sometimes be difficult to interpret mutagensis data unequivocally, although regions near the amino and carboxyl termini of the rod domain of the molecule are known to be important for the production of native filaments. Imperfections in molecular packing may be important in filament assembly and dynamics.