Molecular basis of tubulin transport within the cilium by IFT74 and IFT81.

ABSTRACT: Intraflagellar transport (IFT) of ciliary precursors such as tubulin from the cytoplasm to the ciliary tip is involved in the construction of the cilium, a hairlike organelle found on most eukaryotic cells. However, the molecular mechanisms of IFT are poorly understood. Here, we found that the two core IFT proteins IFT74 and IFT81 form a tubulin-binding module and mapped the interaction to a calponin homology domain of IFT81 and a highly basic domain in IFT74. Knockdown of IFT81 and rescue experiments with point mutants showed that tubulin binding by IFT81 was required for ciliogenesis in human cells.

SUBMITTER: Bhogaraju S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4359902 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature