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Updated: Jan 1, 2026

Using Primary Neurosphere Cultures to Study Primary Cilia
Published on: April 14, 2017
Primary Cilia Signaling Promotes Axonal Tract Development and Is Disrupted in Joubert Syndrome-Related Disorders
Jiami Guo1, James M Otis2, Sarah K Suciu3
1UNC Neuroscience Center and the Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, USA.
Abstract:
Appropriate axonal growth and connectivity are essential for functional wiring of the brain. Joubert syndrome-related disorders (JSRD), a group of ciliopathies in which mutations disrupt primary cilia function, are characterized by axonal tract malformations. However, little is known about how cilia-driven signaling regulates axonal growth and connectivity. We demonstrate that the deletion of related JSRD genes, Arl13b and Inpp5e, in projection neurons leads to de-fasciculated and misoriented axonal tracts. Arl13b deletion disrupts the function of its downstream effector, Inpp5e, and deregulates ciliary-PI3K/AKT signaling. Chemogenetic activation of ciliary GPCR signaling and cilia-specific optogenetic modulation of downstream second messenger cascades (PI3K, AKT, and AC3) commonly regulated by ciliary signaling receptors induce rapid changes in axonal dynamics. Further, Arl13b deletion leads to changes in transcriptional landscape associated with dysregulated PI3K/AKT signaling. These data suggest that ciliary signaling acts to modulate axonal connectivity and that impaired primary cilia signaling underlies axonal tract defects in JSRD.
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