Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 6, 2026
08:00
Observation of the Ciliary Movement of Choroid Plexus Epithelial Cells Ex Vivo
Published on: July 13, 2015
The chirality of ciliary beats.
1Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Nöthnitzer Str. 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany. julicher@pks.mpg.de
Physical Biology
|March 22, 2008
Summary
Eukaryotic cilia generate rotational fluid flows through self-organized dynein motors and microtubules. Axonemal chirality selects a specific rotation direction, breaking embryonic left-right symmetry.
Area of Science:
- Cell Biology
- Biophysics
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- Eukaryotic cells utilize motile cilia, whip-like appendages, for motion and fluid flow generation.
- Cilia possess a conserved axoneme structure composed of nine microtubule doublets.
- Complex, chiral bending waves in cilia arise from dynein motor protein activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a 3D model of ciliary dynamics.
- To investigate the self-organization of dynein motors and microtubules in cilia.
- To understand how ciliary beat patterns and rotation emerge from axonemal structure.
Main Methods:
- Developed a three-dimensional computational model of ciliary dynamics.
- Incorporated both bending and twisting mechanics of the cilium.
- Simulated the self-organization of dynein motors and microtubules.
Main Results:
- Identified self-organized beating patterns with both clockwise and anticlockwise rotational modes.
- Demonstrated that axonemal chirality dynamically selects one rotational mode based on motor properties.
- Established a physical mechanism for the selection of ciliary beat rotation.
Conclusions:
- Cilia's left-right symmetry breaking in embryonic development is driven by asymmetric fluid flows from rotating cilia.
- The study elucidates the physical principles governing ciliary beating and its developmental consequences.
- Axonemal chirality is crucial for determining the directionality of ciliary-induced fluid flow.
Related Concept Videos
02:25Chirality
Chirality is a term that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in an object. In other words, chiral objects cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, our feet are chiral, as the mirror image of the left foot, the right foot, cannot be superposed on the left foot.
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
02:30Chirality in Nature
Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid. The...
01:05Mechanism of Ciliary Motion
The ciliary structures were first seen in 1647 by Antonie Leeuwenhoek while observing the protozoans. In lower organisms, these appendages are responsible for cell movement, while in higher organisms, these appendages help in the movement of the extracellular fluids within the body cavities.
The cilia are made up of microtubules in a 9+2 arrangement, with nine microtubule doublet ring bundles, surrounding a pair of central singlet microtubule bundles. The doublet microtubule bundles are...
The cilia are made up of microtubules in a 9+2 arrangement, with nine microtubule doublet ring bundles, surrounding a pair of central singlet microtubule bundles. The doublet microtubule bundles are...
01:05Mechanism of Ciliary Motion
The ciliary structures were first seen in 1647 by Antonie Leeuwenhoek while observing the protozoans. In lower organisms, these appendages are responsible for cell movement, while in higher organisms, these appendages help in the movement of the extracellular fluids within the body cavities.
The cilia are made up of microtubules in a 9+2 arrangement, with nine microtubule doublet ring bundles, surrounding a pair of central singlet microtubule bundles. The doublet microtubule bundles are...
The cilia are made up of microtubules in a 9+2 arrangement, with nine microtubule doublet ring bundles, surrounding a pair of central singlet microtubule bundles. The doublet microtubule bundles are...
02:05Prochirality
The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...
02:33Stereoisomerism of Cyclic Compounds
In this lesson, we delve into the role of ring conformation and its stability, which determines the spatial arrangement and, consequently, the molecular symmetry and stereoisomerism of cyclic compounds. 1,2-Dimethylcyclohexane is used as a case study to evaluate the possible number of stereoisomers. Here, given the multiple (n = 2) chiral centers, there are 2n = 4 possible configurations that lack a plane of symmetry, as the ring skeleton exists in a non-planar chair conformation. In addition,...