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Initiating Differentiation in Immortalized Multipotent Otic Progenitor Cells
Published on: January 2, 2016
Repurposing Cell Cycle Oscillators for Multiciliated Cell Differentiation
Gonzalo Ortiz-Álvarez1, Adel Al Jord2,3
1Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract:
Repurposing extant resources is at the basis of functional innovation in evolution. In cell biology, conserved regulatory circuits, with minor adjustments to a subset of components, can be recruited for functional novelty. A prominent example concerns multiciliated cells that generate cilia-based fluid flows, vital for organism development and homeostasis. During their post-mitotic differentiation, these cells repurpose the autonomous oscillators that normally govern the cell division cycle to drive massive production of cilia-nucleating organelles, named centrioles, in the cytoplasm without committing to cell division. In this chapter, we review recent advances in understanding how a repurposed cell cycle machinery regulates these cytoplasmic dynamics essential for motile ciliogenesis.
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