Final answer:
The cytoskeleton is composed of microtubules, intermediate filaments, and microfilaments, each playing specific roles in maintaining cell shape, ensuring movement, and anchoring cellular structures.
Step-by-step explanation:
The cytoskeleton is composed of a variety of fibers, including microtubules, intermediate filaments, and microfilaments. The cytoskeleton provides crucial structural support for the cell, helping maintain its shape and enabling cellular movements. The microfilaments, often associated with myosin, are the narrowest elements providing rigidity and facilitating cellular motion. Intermediate filaments, which include different types of proteins such as keratin, are responsible for bearing tension, supporting cell-cell junctions, and anchoring cells to extracellular structures. Microtubules are hollow tubes important for resisting compression, serving as tracks for motor proteins, facilitating the movement of vesicles and organelles, as well as cell division functions like pulling chromosomes during mitosis.