JCB • VOLUME 191 • NUMBER 3 • 2010 436 R ecent years have seen an explosion of interest in the primary cilium. This long-neglected organelle was widely considered to be an evolutionary dead end before its critical function in cell signaling began to be uncovered. The microtubule-based membrane protrusion is now thought of as a cellular antenna, receiving extracellular signals and transmitting t...

BACKGROUND Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling in the mouse requires the microtubule-based organelle, the primary cilium. The primary cilium is assembled and maintained through the process of intraflagellar transport (IFT) and the response to Shh is blocked in mouse mutants that lack proteins required for IFT. Although the phenotypes of mouse IFT mutants do not overlap with phenotypes of known Wnt p...

Mutations in the polycystin genes, PKD1 or PKD2, results in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD). Although a genetic basis of ADPKD is established, we lack a clear understanding of polycystin proteins' functions as ion channels. This question remains unsolved largely because polycystins localize to the primary cilium - a tiny, antenna-like organelle. Using a new ADPKD mouse mode...

ABSTRACT First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors selection papers published in Journal Cell Science, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Ezgi Odabasi author on ‘ CCDC66 regulates primary cilium length and signaling via interactions transition zone axonemal proteins’, JCS. postdoc lab Elif Nur Firat-Karalar at Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey, inv...