Dishevelled links basal body docking and orientation in ciliated epithelial cells

Abstract

Some epithelia contain cells with multiple motile cilia that beat in a concerted manner. New tools and experimental systems have facilitated molecular studies of cilium biogenesis and the coordinated planar polarization of cilia that leads to their concerted motility. A recent elegant study using embryonic frog epidermis demonstrates that Dishevelled, a key regulator of both the Wnt-beta-catenin and planar cell polarity pathways, controls both the docking and planar polarization of ciliary basal bodies.