Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 5, 2026

Immobilization of Caenorhabditis elegans to Analyze Intracellular Transport in Neurons
Published on: October 18, 2017
The roles of evolutionarily conserved functional modules in cilia-related trafficking
Ching-Hwa Sung1, Michel R Leroux
1Margaret M. Dyson Vision Research Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA.
Abstract:
Cilia are present across most eukaryotic phyla and have diverse sensory and motility roles in animal physiology, cell signalling and development. Their biogenesis and maintenance depend on vesicular and intraciliary (intraflagellar) trafficking pathways that share conserved structural and functional modules. The functional units of the interconnected pathways, which include proteins involved in membrane coating as well as small GTPases and their accessory factors, were first experimentally associated with canonical vesicular trafficking. These components are, however, ancient, having been co-opted by the ancestral eukaryote to establish the ciliary organelle, and their study can inform us about ciliary biology in higher organisms.
Related Concept Videos
Mechanism of Ciliary Motion
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...
Mechanism of Ciliary Motion
Microtubule Associated Motor Proteins
Cytoskeletal Coordination in Cell Migration
Role of Septins
Cellular Functions of Septins
Recent studies have revealed the multifaceted roles of septins in various cellular processes such as cytokinesis, ciliogenesis, and neurogenesis. Septins act as scaffolds and...
Microtubules in Signaling

