Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2-2012

Publication Title

Journal of Cell Science

Department

Department of Biological Sciences

Abstract

Virtually all motile eukaryotic cilia and flagella have a '9+2' axoneme in which nine doublet microtubules surround two singlet microtubules. Associated with the central pair of microtubules are protein complexes that form at least seven biochemically and structurally distinct central pair projections. Analysis of mutants lacking specific projections has indicated that each may play a unique role in the control of flagellar motility. One of these is the C1d projection previously shown to contain the proteins FAP54, FAP46, FAP74 and FAP221/Pcdp1, which exhibits Ca(2+)-sensitive calmodulin binding. Here we report the isolation and characterization of a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii null mutant for FAP46. This mutant, fap46-1, lacks the C1d projection and has impaired motility, confirming the importance of this projection for normal flagellar movement. Those cells that are motile have severe defects in phototaxis and the photoshock response, underscoring a role for the C1d projection in Ca(2+)-mediated flagellar behavior. The data also reveal for the first time that the C1d projection is involved in the control of interdoublet sliding velocity. Our studies further identify a novel C1d subunit that we term C1d-87, give new insight into relationships between the C1d subunits, and provide evidence for multiple sites of calmodulin interaction within the C1d projection. These results represent significant advances in our understanding of an important but little studied axonemal structure.

DOI

10.1242/jcs.107151

Original Citation

Brown JM, Dipetrillo CG, Smith EF, Witman GB. A FAP46 mutant provides new insights into the function and assembly of the C1d complex of the ciliary central apparatus. J Cell Sci. 2012 Aug 15;125(Pt 16):3904-13. doi: 10.1242/jcs.107151. Epub 2012 May 8. PMID: 22573824; PMCID: PMC3462084.

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