纤毛及纤毛相关疾病研究进展

纤毛是一种以细胞微管为主形成的突出于细胞表面的结构,分布于哺乳动物体内的大多数细胞。近年来研究发现,很多人类疾病都与纤毛结构、长度的失调相关,所以有关纤毛的研究是目前研究的热点领域。越来越多的证据证明,纤毛除了提供流体推动力参与细胞的运动功能之外,还具有信号传导的功能,在细胞生命活动的各个方面发挥着多种关键作用。它参与调控细胞生理活动、增殖与分化以及动物个体发育。因此,深入地探索纤毛调控机理对基础生物学理论的发展和人类纤毛相关疾病的攻克有重要意义。该文简要介绍了纤毛的结构、组装与解聚的机制、参与信号传导的功能以及纤毛缺陷同人类疾病的关系。     

动纤毛轴丝的分子组装

纤毛/鞭毛是从细胞膜表面突出的真核细胞器,它能调节细胞运动及细胞周围液体流动,或者参与机体的感知功能,其异常会引发多种人类纤毛病。作为最早被发现的细胞器之一,纤毛一直是细胞生物学领域的重点研究对象,但是因结构大且复杂,其分子组装机制的揭示长期以来一直是个难题。近些年,随着冷冻电镜技术的发展,多个课题组先后报道了从衣藻到哺乳动物精子鞭毛的轴丝各部分高分辨率结构。该文综述了动纤毛的结构组成和最新的分子组装研究进展,重点描述了轴丝各个组成部分包括双联微管(DMT)、内外动力臂(IDA和ODA)、辐条结构(RS)、中央微管对(CP)和连接复合物(N-DRC)的蛋白组成和分布,为深入理解纤毛的组装过程和功能调节提供了科学依据。     

纤毛、纤毛发生与Wnt/PCP信号通路

纤毛是以微管为核心组分、突出于细胞表面且高度保守的细胞器,具有运动、摄食、感知并传递外界信号等功能。纤毛发生是纤毛在细胞膜表面定位并装配的过程。多年来,对纤毛发生过程及其调控机制的探索始终是亚细胞结构与功能研究的热点之一。Wnt/PCP信号通路是参与胚胎及器官发育的主要信号转导途径之一。近年来大量研究显示,Wnt/PCP信号通路和纤毛发生密切相关。纤毛结构与功能的异常可造成Wnt/PCP信号通路异常,导致纤毛相关疾病的发生;同时,Wnt/PCP信号通路又决定着纤毛的形态和极性。因此,深入研究纤毛与Wnt/PCP信号通路的关系将有助于从细胞与分子生物学水平揭示纤毛发生的调控机制。     

衣藻、纤毛与“纤毛相关疾病”

纤毛或鞭毛（两个名称在本文互为通用）是以细胞微管为核心而组装形成的一种细胞器官．运动纤毛在细胞运动中起的作用是显而易见的,比如精子的运动：近年来发现,曾被认为是退化器官的不动原生纤毛在动物发育和各种生理器官的正常生理活动中起着重要作用．原生纤毛具有调控细胞分裂,Hedgehog信号通路,非经典Wnt信号通路及钙信号传导等的作用．纤毛及其附属结构在结构或功能上的缺陷会导致多种多样的疾病,总称为“纤毛相关疾病”,包括男性不育症、呼吸道疾病（如不动纤毛综合征、肾囊肿、失明、多指（趾）症、内脏转位、肥胖症、高血压乃至精神发育迟滞等．纤毛在结构和功能上是非常保守的,我们目前对纤毛的结构与功能的认识和对“纤毛相关疾病”发生机理的了解主要来自于对各种模式生物的研究,其中包括具有研究优势的模式生物——雷氏衣藻（Chlamydomonas reinhardtii,一种单细胞绿萍）．对纤毛的进一步研究将深化人们对“纤毛相关疾病”的认识、促进对它的诊断、预防和治疗．本文对衣藻、纤毛及“纤毛相关疾病”的研究进展作一简短概述．     

中心体的结构与组装

在动物细胞中,中心体是最主要的微管组织中心,对细胞运动和极性、纤毛生长以及细胞分裂都具有重要作用。该文总结了中心体的结构组成、组装过程,并具体阐述了中心体关键结构的组装等方面的研究进展,为更深入地了解中心体组装的过程及调控机制提供参考。     

初级纤毛的研究进展

初级纤毛是以中心体作为基体并突出于细胞膜表面的一种特化的细胞结构,存在于绝大多数休眠期以及已分化的哺乳动物细胞,介导多种细胞信号通路的转导,因此初级纤毛功能的异常会导致一系列人类疾病。该文主要总结了初级纤毛的结构、起始生长与解聚过程及中心体/纤毛蛋白降解途径等方面的最新研究进展,讨论了初级纤毛异常与纤毛疾病的关系,为纤毛疾病的诊断与治疗提供了参考。     

磷酸化调控纤毛的解聚

<正>纤毛(也称鞭毛)是突出于真核细胞表面的一类在进化上很保守的细胞器,由纤毛膜、轴丝及其底部的基体组成.纤毛广泛分布于原生动物及脊椎动物细胞表面,负责感受内外环境信号以及驱动细胞运动.在哺乳动物特别是人类中,纤毛结构和功能的异常能导致多囊肾,神经系统发育缺陷,听觉、嗅觉和视觉的衰退,呼吸道疾病和不育症等,这些疾病统称为纤毛病,其发病率在1/1000左右.目前还没有治疗     

细胞纤毛在信号转导与器官发育中的作用与机制

纤毛(cilia)是细胞表面的突起状细胞器,几乎存在于所有细胞表面,且广泛分布于组织和器官的上皮.纤毛由外部的纤毛膜和内部的轴丝组成,结构在进化上十分保守.根据微管组成和排列方式的不同,纤毛可分为9+2型运动纤毛与9+0型基本纤毛或非运动纤毛.作为一种特殊的感受器,纤毛通过影响细胞信号通路参与胚胎形成、心脏等内脏器官发育及人体重要生理活动.本课题组在国际上首次把前列腺素信号通路与纤毛生长及心脏发育相联系.研究发现,ABCC4/LKT前列腺素转运蛋白从细胞内运输前列腺素E2(PGE2)至细胞外,并通过结合位于纤毛膜上的G蛋白偶联受体EP4影响细胞内c AMP浓度,调节纤毛内运输蛋白的正向速率,进而调控纤毛生长与心脏等器官的左右不对称性发育.纤毛生长或功能缺陷会引发先天性心脏病、多囊肾、视网膜变性等多种疾病.本文主要介绍纤毛参与调控细胞内信号转导与器官发育及相关纤毛疾病.     

阔口尖毛虫皮层纤毛器微管在不同生理条件下的分化

应用激光扫描共聚焦显微术,显示腹毛类纤毛虫阔口尖毛虫(Oxytricha platystoma)无性生殖过程中,新的口围带、波动膜、额腹横棘毛、左右缘棘毛微管先后分化,老纤毛器微管去分化,细胞分裂产生各含一套纤毛器微管的前、后两仔虫;生理改组过程中,口围带、波动膜、额腹横棘毛、左右缘棘毛微管发生去分化和再分化,细胞皮层微管胞器更新形成含一套纤毛器微管的新细胞。结果表明阔口尖毛虫在无性生殖和生理改组这两种不同的生理条件下,其纤毛器微管结构的形成或更新可能具有相同的细胞调控机制,形态发生中老纤毛器结构可能对新结构的发生和发育具有诱导定位和物质贡献的作用。     

可口革囊星虫肾管纤毛的分布及结构特征

为了解可口革囊星虫(Phascolosoma esculenta)肾管纤毛的结构特点及其功能,采用显微及亚显微技术观察研究了可口革囊星虫肾管纤毛的分布位置及形态结构特征。结果表明,肾管外膜多纤毛细胞表面簇生纤毛、内部柱状上皮细胞与立方上皮细胞游离面着生分散的纤毛,肾口内面也着生纤毛。纤毛结构由纤毛干、过渡区、基体及其纤毛小根组成;纤毛干由"9+2"结构的轴丝外被纤毛膜构成;纤毛干与基体之间为过渡区,中央微管终止于此,外周双联微管通过过渡区和基体的外周轴丝相连;基体呈圆筒状,为"9+0"结构;纤毛小根分长根和短根,均为基体发出的由微细原纤维组成的圆锥形结构,具间隔70 nm的明显横纹。肾管纤毛可能在促进体腔液流动、提高肾管对体腔液的过滤作用以及引导成熟精卵进入肾管等方面发挥作用。     

The motile cilium in development and disease: emerging new insights

In this paper, I review a collection of recently published papers that have provided significant new information about the biogenesis and functions of motile cilia. In vertebrates, the activity of motile cilia has been associated with a fascinating diversity of developmental and physiological processes. Despite the importance, much remains to be learned about the genetic control and cellular events that are involved in the differentiation of motile cilia. We also need to better understand the mechanisms by which cilia‐driven fluid flow is able to influence such a variety of developmental and physiological processes. The Foxj1 family of proteins has now been definitively established as master regulators of motile ciliogenesis. 1 , 2 Identification of the Kintoun/PF13 protein has shed light on the assembly of dynein arms, 3 whereas live imaging of ciliary motility has led to the discovery of an intriguing new role for motile cilia in otolith formation in the ear. 4     

Epithelial sodium channels (ENaC) are uniformly distributed on motile cilia in the oviduct and the respiratory airways

Epithelial sodium channels (ENaCs) are located on the apical surface of cells and funnel Na⁺ ions from the lumen into the cell. ENaC function also regulates extracellular fluid volume as water flows across membranes accompanying Na⁺ ions to maintain osmolarity. To examine the sites of expression and intracellular localization of ENaC, we generated polyclonal antibodies against the extracellular domain of human α-ENaC subunit that we expressed in E. coli. Three-dimensional (3D) confocal microscopy of immunofluorescence using these antibodies for the first time revealed that ENaCs are uniformly distributed on the ciliary surface in all epithelial cells with motile cilia lining the bronchus in human lung and female reproductive tract, all along the fimbrial end of the fallopian tube, the ampulla and rare cells in the uterine glands. Quantitative analysis indicated that cilia increase cell surface area >70-fold and the amount of ENaC on cilia is >1,000-fold higher than on non-ciliated cell surface. These findings indicate that ENaC functions as a regulator of the osmolarity of the periciliary fluid bathing the cilia. In contrast to ENaC, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) that channels chloride ions from the cytoplasm to the lumen is located mainly on the apical side, but not on cilia. The cilial localization of ENaC requires reevaluation of the mechanisms of action of CFTR and other modulators of ENaC function. ENaC on motile cilia should be essential for diverse functions of motile cilia, such as germ cell transport, fertilization, implantation, clearance of respiratory airways and cell migration.     

Cilia-driven fluid flow in the zebrafish pronephros, brain and Kupffer's vesicle is required for normal organogenesis

Cilia, as motile and sensory organelles, have been implicated in normal development, as well as diseases including cystic kidney disease, hydrocephalus and situs inversus. In kidney epithelia, cilia are proposed to be non-motile sensory organelles, while in the mouse node, two cilia populations, motile and non-motile have been proposed to regulate situs. We show that cilia in the zebrafish larval kidney, the spinal cord and Kupffer's vesicle are motile, suggesting that fluid flow is a common feature of each of these organs. Disruption of cilia structure or motility resulted in pronephric cyst formation, hydrocephalus and left-right asymmetry defects. The data show that loss of fluid flow leads to fluid accumulation, which can account for organ distension pathologies in the kidney and brain. In Kupffer's vesicle, loss of flow is associated with loss of left-right patterning, indicating that the 'nodal flow' mechanism of generating situs is conserved in non-mammalian vertebrates.     

Pericentrin forms a complex with intraflagellar transport proteins and polycystin-2 and is required for primary cilia assembly

Primary cilia are nonmotile microtubule structures that assemble from basal bodies by a process called intraflagellar transport (IFT) and are associated with several human diseases. Here, we show that the centrosome protein pericentrin (Pcnt) colocalizes with IFT proteins to the base of primary and motile cilia. Immunogold electron microscopy demonstrates that Pcnt is on or near basal bodies at the base of cilia. Pcnt depletion by RNA interference disrupts basal body localization of IFT proteins and the cation channel polycystin-2 (PC2), and inhibits primary cilia assembly in human epithelial cells. Conversely, silencing of IFT20 mislocalizes Pcnt from basal bodies and inhibits primary cilia assembly. Pcnt is found in spermatocyte IFT fractions, and IFT proteins are found in isolated centrosome fractions. Pcnt antibodies coimmunoprecipitate IFT proteins and PC2 from several cell lines and tissues. We conclude that Pcnt, IFTs, and PC2 form a complex in vertebrate cells that is required for assembly of primary cilia and possibly motile cilia and flagella.     

Planar Cell Polarity Enables Posterior Localization of Nodal Cilia and Left-Right Axis Determination during Mouse and Xenopus Embryogenesis

Left-right asymmetry in vertebrates is initiated in an early embryonic structure called the ventral node in human and mouse, and the gastrocoel roof plate (GRP) in the frog. Within these structures, each epithelial cell bears a single motile cilium, and the concerted beating of these cilia produces a leftward fluid flow that is required to initiate left-right asymmetric gene expression. The leftward fluid flow is thought to result from the posterior tilt of the cilia, which protrude from near the posterior portion of each cell''s apical surface. The cells, therefore, display a morphological planar polarization. Planar cell polarity (PCP) is manifested as the coordinated, polarized orientation of cells within epithelial sheets, or as directional cell migration and intercalation during convergent extension. A set of evolutionarily conserved proteins regulates PCP. Here, we provide evidence that vertebrate PCP proteins regulate planar polarity in the mouse ventral node and in the Xenopus gastrocoel roof plate. Asymmetric anterior localization of VANGL1 and PRICKLE2 (PK2) in mouse ventral node cells indicates that these cells are planar polarized by a conserved molecular mechanism. A weakly penetrant Vangl1 mutant phenotype suggests that compromised Vangl1 function may be associated with left-right laterality defects. Stronger functional evidence comes from the Xenopus GRP, where we show that perturbation of VANGL2 protein function disrupts the posterior localization of motile cilia that is required for leftward fluid flow, and causes aberrant expression of the left side-specific gene Nodal. The observation of anterior-posterior PCP in the mouse and in Xenopus embryonic organizers reflects a strong evolutionary conservation of this mechanism that is important for body plan determination.     

Piecing together a ciliome

Cilia are slender microtubule-based appendages that emanate from the surfaces of a large proportion of eukaryotic cells. The motile and non-motile forms of cilia represent bona fide organelles comprising distinct repertoires of proteins that serve specific roles in locomotion or fluid movement, and sense chemical or physical extracellular cues. Owing in part to the growing number of genes associated with ciliary disorders, such as polycystic kidney disease and Bardet-Biedl syndrome, there has been a recent profusion of studies aimed at unveiling the protein makeup of cilia. The approaches used are complementary, involving several different organisms and spanning the fields of bioinformatics, genomics and proteomics. Here we review these studies and assess the various data sets to help define a comprehensive ciliary proteome, or 'ciliome'. We have compiled a cilia protein database that includes known cilia-associated proteins and numerous putative ciliary proteins including RAB-like small GTPases, which might be implicated in vesicular trafficking, and the microtubule-binding protein MIP-T3, some of which might be associated with ciliopathies.     

Characterization of single channel currents from primary cilia of renal epithelial cells

The primary cilium is a ubiquitous, non-motile microtubular organelle lacking the central pair of microtubules found in motile cilia. Primary cilia are surrounded by a membrane, which has a unique complement of membrane proteins, and may thus be functionally different from the plasma membrane. The function of the primary cilium remains largely unknown. However, primary cilia have important sensory transducer properties, including the response of renal epithelial cells to fluid flow or mechanical stimulation. Recently, renal cystic diseases have been associated with dysfunctional ciliary proteins. Although the sensory properties of renal epithelial primary cilia may be associated with functional channel activity in the organelle, information in this regard is still lacking. This may be related to the inherent difficulties in assessing electrical activity in this rather small and narrow organelle. In the present study, we provide the first direct electrophysiological evidence for the presence of single channel currents from isolated primary cilia of LLC-PK1 renal epithelial cells. Several channel phenotypes were observed, and addition of vasopressin increased cation channel activity, which suggests the regulation, by the cAMP pathway of ciliary conductance. Ion channel reconstitution of ciliary versus plasma membranes indicated a much higher channel density in cilia. At least three channel proteins, polycystin-2, TRPC1, and interestingly, the alpha-epithelial sodium channel, were immunodetected in this organelle. Ion channel activity in the primary cilium of renal cells may be an important component of its role as a sensory transducer.     

Ex vivo Method for High Resolution Imaging of Cilia Motility in Rodent Airway Epithelia

An ex vivo technique for imaging mouse airway epithelia for quantitative analysis of motile cilia function important for insight into mucociliary clearance function has been established. Freshly harvested mouse trachea is cut longitudinally through the trachealis muscle and mounted in a shallow walled chamber on a glass-bottomed dish. The trachea sample is positioned along its long axis to take advantage of the trachealis muscle to curl longitudinally. This allows imaging of ciliary motion in the profile view along the entire tracheal length. Videos at 200 frames/sec are obtained using differential interference contrast microscopy and a high speed digital camera to allow quantitative analysis of cilia beat frequency and ciliary waveform. With the addition of fluorescent beads during imaging, cilia generated fluid flow also can be determined. The protocol time spans approximately 30 min, with 5 min for chamber preparation, 5-10 min for sample mounting, and 10-15 min for videomicroscopy.