Centriole duplication and maturation in animal cells

Abstract

Publisher Summary The functional role and structural features of the centriole and the molecular events underlying centriolar duplication and maturation are discussed in the chapter. The published data are reviewed, with emphasis on the centriole of mammalian cells. The centriolar or basal-body duplication cycle is followed in many systems such as somatic mammalian cells, in developmental systems such as sea urchin eggs, Spisula oocytes, and Drosophila in algae, and in ameboflagellates such as Naegleria. A diagram illustrating the major conceptual differences between centriole duplication and maturation in a proliferating somatic cell and during the formation of differentiated ciliated epithelium is provided in the chapter. The events of centriole duplication and maturation are clearly integrated into the cell cycle. Some insights into the key elements of the regulation of the centriolar duplication cycle, . the regulation of centriolar duplication and maturation, the possible mechanisms involved, and the molecular components required in the process are discussed. Centriolar maturation is marked by the acquisition of appendages and satellite structures and the protein cenexin. A widely accepted functional role of the mature centriole is the nucleation of a cilium or flagellum. Some of the possible future developments in the study of centriolar cell biology are also described in the chapter.