Tiny hair-like structures (cilia) are found on the surface
of most cells. Cilia are responsible for the locomotion of cells (e.g. sperm
cells), they process external signals and coordinate the correct arrangement of
the inner organs during the development of an organism. For proper assembly and
function of cilia, they need to be supplied with the appropriate building
blocks. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in
Martinsried near Munich, Germany, now identified the mechanism of how Tubulin,
the main building block of cilia, is transported within the cilium. “Defects in
cilia cause numerous diseases that affect millions of people worldwide,” says
Sagar Bhogaraju, scientist at the MPI of Biochemistry. The results now
published in the journal Science could help to understand and potentially
prevent these diseases.