Letter abstract
Nature Cell Biology 6, 1109 - 1113 (2004)
Published online: 17 October 2004 | doi:10.1038/ncb1186
Two anterograde intraflagellar transport motors cooperate to build sensory cilia on C. elegans neurons
Joshua J. Snow1,2, Guangshuo Ou1,2, Amy L. Gunnarson1, M. Regina S. Walker1, H. Mimi Zhou1, Ingrid Brust-Mascher1 & Jonathan M. Scholey1
Cilia have diverse roles in motility and sensory reception and their dysfunction contributes to cilia-related diseases. Assembly and maintenance of cilia depends on the intraflagellar transport (IFT) of axoneme, membrane, matrix and signalling proteins to appropriate destinations within the organelle1, 2, 3, 4. In the current model, these diverse cargo proteins bind to multiple sites on macromolecular IFT particles, which are moved by a single anterograde IFT motor, kinesin-II, from the ciliary base to its distal tip5, 6, where cargo-unloading occurs1, 2, 3, 4, 7. Here, we describe the observation of fluorescent IFT motors and IFT particles moving along distinct domains within sensory cilia of wild-type and IFT-motor-mutant Caenorhabditis elegans. We show that two anterograde IFT motor holoenzymes, kinesin-II and Osm-3–kinesin8, cooperate in a surprising way to control two pathways of IFT that build distinct parts of cilia. Instead of each motor independently moving its own specific cargo to a distinct destination, the two motors function redundantly to transport IFT particles along doublet microtubules adjacent to the transition zone to form the axoneme middle segment9. Next, Osm-3–kinesin alone transports IFT particles along the distal singlet microtubules to stabilize the distal segment. Thus, the subtle coordinate activity of these IFT motors creates two sequential transport pathways.
- Center for Genetics and Development, Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
- These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence to: Jonathan M. Scholey1 e-mail: jmscholey@ucdavis.edu
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Hedgehogs on the road to polarityNature Genetics News and Views (01 Mar 2006)
Cilia put a brake on Wnt signallingNature Cell Biology News and Views (01 Jan 2008)
See all 7 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Distinct IFT mechanisms contribute to the generation of ciliary structural diversity in C. elegansThe EMBO Journal Article (20 Jun 2007)
Movement of motor and cargo along ciliaNature Scientific Correspondence (22 Apr 1999)
See all 40 matches for Research
