A single-molecule view on intracellular transport in C. elegans chemosensory cilia

Abstract

In our cells, motor proteins do not work on their own: cargoes are often transported by multiple motors, of the same type, but often also of opposite directionality. To study motor cooperation, we have focused on a particular transport process, intraflagellar transport (IFT), which takes place in cilia and flagella and is essential for the assembly and maintenance of these organelles. As a model system we use IFT in the chemosensory cilia of the nematode C. elegans. In order to visualize IFT components and cargoes with fluorescence microscopy on living animals, we generate mutant-nematodes expressing fluorescent versions of the proteins of interest.