Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2008
Publication Title
Developmental Biology
Abstract
Sensory cilia and intraflagellar transport (IFT), a pathway essential for ciliogenesis, play important roles in embryonic development and cell differentiation. In vertebrate photoreceptors IFT is required for the early development of ciliated sensory outer segments (OS), an elaborate organelle that sequesters the many proteins comprising the phototransduction machinery. As in other cilia and flagella, heterotrimeric members of the kinesin 2 family have been implicated as the anterograde IFT motor in OS. However, in Caenorhabditis elegans, OSM-3, a homodimeric kinesin 2 motor, plays an essential role in some, but not all sensory cilia. Kif17, a vertebrate OSM-3 homologue, is known for its role in dendritic trafficking in neurons, but a function in ciliogenesis has not been determined. We show that in zebrafish Kif17 is widely expressed in the nervous system and retina. In photoreceptors Kif17 co-localizes with IFT proteins within the OS, and co-immunoprecipitates with IFT proteins. Knockdown of Kif17 has little if any effect in early embryogenesis, including the formation of motile sensory cilia in the pronephros. However, OS formation and targeting of the visual pigment protein is severely disrupted. Our analysis shows that Kif17 is essential for photoreceptor OS development, and suggests that Kif17 plays a cell type specific role in vertebrate ciliogenesis.
Keywords
Cilia, Ciliogenesis, IFT, Kif17, Photoreceptors, Zebrafish
Volume
316
Issue
1
First Page
160
Last Page
170
DOI
10.1016/j.ydbio.2008.01.025
ISSN
00121606
Rights
© 2008 Elsevier Inc.
Recommended Citation
Insinna, Christine; Pathak, Narendra; Perkins, Brian; Drummond, Iain; and Besharse, Joseph C., "The Homodimeric Kinesin, Kif17, is Essential for Vertebrate Photoreceptor Sensory Outer Segment Development" (2008). Neuroscience: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/nsc_facpubs/37
Comments
Archived as published. Open access article.