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Updated: May 10, 2026

Glass-Based Devices to Generate Drops and Emulsions
Published on: April 5, 2022
A liquid engine: How Spef1 droplets set the ciliary beat
1Precision Health Program, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
Abstract:
In this issue of Structure, Ren et al.1 show that the microtubule-associated protein Spef1 undergoes liquid-liquid phase separation mediated by its uniquely charged coiled-coil domain. These dynamic Spef1 condensates enrich tubulin to drive central-pair microtubule (CP-MT) assembly, providing a long-sought mechanistic explanation for CP-MT assembly and planar ciliary beating.
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