Light chain 2 is a Tctex-type related axonemal dynein light chain that regulates the unique flagellar beating in Trypanosoma brucei

Abstract

The flagellar motility of kinetoplastids is essential for cell viability, virulence, and cytokinesis and exhibits a non-planar bending wave that uniquely propagates from the flagellar tip to its base, rather than base-to-tip as in all other eukaryotes. The flagellar beating is driven by the coordinated action of thousands of dynein arms decorated along the axoneme. Much evidence suggests that dynein-associated light chains, including the specific example of Tctex-like outer arm dynein (OAD) light chain2 (LC2) in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, regulate the biophysical mechanisms of OADs.