PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - van Krugten, Jaap
AU  - Danné, Noémie
AU  - Peterman, Erwin J.G.
TI  - TRPV channel OCR-2 is distributed along <em>C. elegans</em> chemosensory cilia by diffusion in a local interplay with intraflagellar transport
AID  - 10.1101/2020.11.19.390005
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.11.19.390005
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/11/20/2020.11.19.390005.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/11/20/2020.11.19.390005.full
AB  - Sensing and reacting to the environment is essential for survival and procreation of most organisms. Caenorhabditis elegans senses soluble chemicals with transmembrane proteins (TPs) in the cilia of its chemosensory neurons. Development, maintenance and function of these cilia relies on intraflagellar transport (IFT), in which motor proteins transport cargo, including sensory TPs, back and forth along the ciliary axoneme. Here we use live fluorescence imaging to show that IFT machinery and the sensory TP OCR-2 reversibly redistribute along the cilium after exposure to repellant chemicals. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, we performed single-molecule tracking experiments and found that OCR-2 distribution depends on an intricate interplay between IFT-driven transport, normal diffusion and subdiffusion that depends on the specific location in the cilium. These insights in the role of IFT on the dynamics of cellular signal transduction contribute to a deeper understanding of the regulation of sensory TPs and chemosensing.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.