The cytoskeleton, especially the actin cytoskeleton interacts with cell membranes. The cell cortex forms a variety of structures such as cell to substrate adhesions, cell to cell adhesions, and large protein aggregations involved is signal transduction.
Many oncogene products are constituents of the cortex.
These interactions are structural, signalling, and sometimes to orient the internal cytoskeleton. Microtubules and intermediate filaments also form interactions with membranes, but these are at very specialised structures in certain cell types only. These will be discussed later. Actin and Actin Binding Protein interactions with Membranes. Although some reports have suggested a direct interaction of actin with membranes, these have been conducted under very artificial circumstances.