Abstract
The discovery of IFT in Chlamydomonas raised many questions. What was being moved? What were the particles made of? What molecular motors were responsible? Was IFT conserved in other ciliated organisms? Perhaps most important of all, what were the functions of IFT? Many answers to these questions have now been uncovered and are summarized in this chapter. Chlamydomonas IFT particles are located between the flagellar membrane and the outer doublet microtubules and vary in length from tens to hundreds of nanometers in the direction of the long axis of the axoneme. Microtubular connections with the particles are likely to include the IFT-motor proteins and the IFT motor and particle proteins found in Chlamydomonas are described here. ChlamydomonasFirst identified in Chlamydomonas, IFT is now known to be an ancient process that has been remarkably well conserved in many ciliated eukaryotes. In addition to ciliogenesis, IFT functions in signaling pathways and as a regulator of the cell cycle.
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