title: Kinesin-3 KLP-6 regulates intraflagellar transport in male-specific cilia of Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Cilia are cellular sensory organelles whose integrity of structure and function are important to human health. All cilia are assembled and maintained by kinesin-2 motors in a process termed intraflagellar transport (IFT), but they exhibit great variety of morphology and function. This diversity is proposed to be conferred by cell-specific modulation of the core IFT by additional factors, but examples of such IFT modulators are limited. Here we demonstrate that the cell-specific kinesin-3 KLP-6 acts as a modulator of both IFT dynamics and length in the cephalic male (CEM) cilia of Caenorhabditis elegans. Live imaging of GFP-tagged kinesins in CEM cilia shows partial uncoupling of the IFT motors of the kinesin-2 family, kinesin-II and OSM-3/KIF17, with a portion of OSM-3 moving independently of the IFT complex. KLP-6 moves independently of the kinesin-2 motors and acts to reduce the velocity of OSM-3 and IFT. Additionally, kinesin-II mutants display a novel CEM cilia elongation phenotype that is partially dependent on OSM-3 and KLP-6. Our observations illustrate modulation of the general kinesin-2-driven IFT process by a cell-specific kinesin-3 in cilia of C. elegans male neurons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Natalia S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Morsci
authors.forename: Maureen M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Barr
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D002923:Cilia / Q000502:physiology; D016547:Kinesins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D021381:Protein Transport; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; C093002:OSM-3 protein, C elegans; C500832:KLP-6 protein, C elegans; D016547:Kinesins