“How molecular motors drive the motility of cilia and flagella”

Cilia and flagella are thin, rod-like organelles whose snake-like beating patterns drive cells through fluids and move fluids across cellular surfaces. They play essential roles in locomotion, sensory reception, and signaling. The core structure within the cilium, known as the axoneme, consists of nine pairs of doublet microtubules, a central pair of single microtubules, and a myriad of other proteins, including the axonemal dynein motor proteins, which generate the shear forces that slide adjacent doublets. A key question is how dynein activity is coordinated to produce the characteristic sinusoidal beating patterns. We are addressing this question through reconstitution and modeling, leveraging the genetics of the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.