Microtubule doublets are double-track railways for intraflagellar transport trains

The cilium is a large macromolecular machine that is vital for motility, signaling, and sensing in most eukaryotic cells. Its conserved core structure, the axoneme, contains nine microtubule doublets, each comprising a full A-microtubule and an incomplete B-microtubule. However, thus far, the functi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2016-05, Vol.352 (6286), p.721-724
Main Authors: Stepanek, Ludek, Pigino, Gaia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Axoneme - metabolism
Axoneme - ultrastructure
Biological Transport
Cellular biology
Chlamydomonas - metabolism
Chlamydomonas - ultrastructure
Cilia - metabolism
Cilia - ultrastructure
Flagella - metabolism
Flagella - ultrastructure
Geometry
Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods
Microscopy
Microscopy, Electron - methods
Microscopy, Fluorescence - methods
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The cilium is a large macromolecular machine that is vital for motility, signaling, and sensing in most eukaryotic cells. Its conserved core structure, the axoneme, contains nine microtubule doublets, each comprising a full A-microtubule and an incomplete B-microtubule. However, thus far, the function of this doublet geometry has not been understood. We developed a time-resolved correlative fluorescence and three-dimensional electron microscopy approach to investigate the dynamics of intraflagellar transport (IFT) trains, which carry ciliary building blocks along microtubules during the assembly and disassembly of the cilium. Using this method, we showed that each microtubule doublet is used as a bidirectional double-track railway: Anterograde IFT trains move along B-microtubules, and retrograde trains move along A-microtubules. Thus, the microtubule doublet geometry provides direction-specific rails to coordinate bidirectional transport of ciliary components.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.aaf4594