Tiny hair like structures on cell surface which play a number of disorders including polycystic kidney disease, Bardet-Biedl syndrome and Meckel-Gruber syndrome.
Primary cilia consist of a microtubule based ciliary axoneme, basal body, which represents one of the two centrioles of the centrosome.
Primary cilia are surrounded by a lipid/protein membrane, distinct from plasma membrane.
Classified as 9+2 or 9+0 depending on if the axoneme has an additional central pair of microtubules.
Motor proteins transport proteins along the ciliary axoneme, a process called intraflagellar transport.
A transition zone marks the boundary between the ciliary and other compartments.
Important for cell locomotion, fluid movement, and sexual reproduction.
More than 1000 genes play a role in cilia activity and the basal body which anchors cilia into cells.
Cilia receptors can receive a wide range of signals including photo, mechanical, osmolar, thermal, hormone and olfactory sensations.
Motile cilia are structurally similar to primary cilia and may be associated with genetic defects such as with the Kartengener’s syndrome.
Gene mutations in cilia affect a variety of systems and organs in which the cilium-centrosome complex are functional.