Axoneme Structure from Motile Cilia

SnapShot: Motile Cilia

Motile cilia-specific protein macrocomplexes and cilia beating

In Eukaryotes, except fungi and higher plants, the coordinated beating of the motile cilia propels unicellular organisms and regulate the flow of the extracellular fluids in multicellular life forms. In humans proper beating of these tiny nanomachines ensures removal of the mucus and bacteria out of the airways, circulation of cerebrospinal fluid in brain ventricles, transport of the oocytes in...

Beyond 9+0: noncanonical axoneme structures characterize sensory cilia from protists to humans.

The intracellular amastigote stages of parasites such as Leishmania are often referred to as aflagellate. They do, however, possess a short axoneme of cryptic function. Here, our examination of the structure of this axoneme leads to a testable hypothesis of its role in the cell biology of pathogenicity. We show a striking similarity between the microtubule axoneme structure of the Leishmania me...

Non-motile primary cilia as fluid shear stress mechanosensors.

Primary cilia are sensory organelles that transmit extracellular signals into intracellular biochemical responses. Structural and functional defects in primary cilia are associated with a group of human diseases, known as ciliopathies, with phenotypes ranging from cystic kidney and obesity to blindness and mental retardation. Primary cilia mediate mechano- and chemosensation in many cell types....

Structural maintenance and chemosensory function of human airway motile cilia

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