Desmin (DES)

Muscle-specific type III intermediate filament essential for proper muscle building and function. Plays a vital role in maintaining the structure of sarcomeres, inter-connecting the Z-disks and forming the myofibrils, linking them not only to the sarcolemmal cytoskeleton, but in addition into the nucleus and mitochondria, thus providing strength for the muscle fiber during action (PubMed:25358400).

In adult striated muscle they form a fibrous network connecting myofibrils to each other and to the plasma membrane in the periphery of the Z-line structures (PubMed:24200904, PubMed:25394388, PubMed:26724190). May act as a sarcomeric microtubule-anchoring protein: specifically associates with detyrosinated tubulin-alpha chains, leading to buckled microtubules and mechanical resistance to contraction.