ABSTRACT
Cilia are conserved organelles found in many cell types in eukaryotes, and their dysfunction causes defects in environmental sensing and signaling transduction; such defects are termed ciliopathies. Distinct cilia have cell-specific morphologies and exert distinct functions. However, the underlying mechanisms of cell-specific ciliogenesis and regulation are unclear. Here we identified a WD40-repeat (WDR) protein, WDR47/NMTN-1, and show that it is specifically required for ciliogenesis of AWB chemosensory neurons in C. elegans. WDR47/NMTN-1 is expressed in the AWB chemosensory neuron pair, and is localized at the basal body (BB) of the AWB cilia. Knockout of wdr47/nmtn-1 causes abnormal AWB neuron cilia morphology, structural integrity, and induces aberrant AWB-mediated aversive behaviors. We further demonstrate that wdr47/nmtn-1 deletion affects movement of intraflagellar transport (IFT) particles and their cargo delivery in AWB neurons. Our results indicate that WDR47/NMTN-1 is essential for AWB neuron ciliary morphology and function, which reveal a novel mechanism for cell-specific ciliogenesis. Since WDR47/NMTN-1 is conserved in mammals, our findings may help understand the process of cell-specific ciliogenesis and provide insights for treating ciliopathies.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests.
Figure 1, 4, and 5 as well as the related text revised.