Cells of many kinds adhere firmly to glass or plastic surfaces which have been pretreated with polylysine. The attachment takes place as soon as the cells make contact with the surfaces, and the flattening of the cells against the surfaces is quite rapid. Cells which do not normally adhere to solid surfaces, such as sea urchin eggs, attach as well as cells which normally do so, such as amebas or mammalian cells in culture. The adhesion is interpreted simply as the interaction between the polyanionic cell surfaces and the polycationic layer of adsorbed polylysine. The attachment of cells to the polylysine-treated surfaces can be exploited for a variety of experimental manipulations. In the preparation of samples for scanning or transmission electron microscopy, the living material may first be attached to a polylysine-coated plate or grid, subjected to some experimental treatment (fertilization of an egg, for example), then transferred rapidly to fixative and further passed through processing for observation; each step involves only the transfer of the plate or grid from one container to the next. The cells are not detached. The adhesion of the cell may be so firm that the body of the cell may be sheared away, leaving attached a patch of cell surface, face up, for observation of its inner aspect. For example, one may observe secretory vesicles on the inner face of the surface (3) or may study the association of filaments with the inner surface (Fig. 1). Subcellular structures may attach to the polylysine-coated surfaces. So far, we have found this to be the case for nuclei isolated from sea urchin embryos and for the microtubules of flagella, which are well displayed after the membrane has been disrupted by Triton X-100 (Fig. 2).

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The radial spoke is a ubiquitous component of \u279+2\u27 cilia and flagella, and plays an essential role in the control of dynein arm activity by relaying signals from the central pair of microtubules to the arms. The Chlamydomonas reinhardtii radial spoke contains at least 23 proteins, only 8 of which have been characterized at the molecular level. Here, we use mass spectrometry to identify 10 additional radial spoke proteins. Many of the newly identified proteins in the spoke stalk are predicted to contain domains associated with signal transduction, including Ca2+-, AKAP- and nucleotide-binding domains. This suggests that the spoke stalk is both a scaffold for signaling molecules and itself a transducer of signals. Moreover, in addition to the recently described HSP40 family member, a second spoke stalk protein is predicted to be a molecular chaperone, implying that there is a sophisticated mechanism for the assembly of this large complex. Among the 18 spoke proteins identified to date, at least 12 have apparent homologs in humans, indicating that the radial spoke has been conserved throughout evolution. The human genes encoding these proteins are candidates for causing primary ciliary dyskinesia, a severe inherited disease involving missing or defective axonemal structures, including the radial spokes

Abstract. The molecular composition and organization of the row of axonemal inner dynein arms were investigated by biochemical and electron microscopic analyses of Chlamydomonas wild-type and mutant axonemes. Three inner arm structures could be distinguished on the basis of their molecular composition and position in the axoneme as determined by analysis of pf30 and pf23 mutants. The three inner arm structures repeat every 96 nm and are referred to here as inner arms I1, 12, and 13. I1 is proximal to the radial spoke S1, whereas 12 and 13 are distal to spokes S1and $2, respectively. The mutant pf30 lacks I1 whereas the mutant pf23 lacks both I1 and 12 but has a normal inner arm 13. Each of the six heavy chains that was identified as an inner dynein arm subunit has a site for ATP binding and hydrolysis. Two of the heavy chains together with a polypeptide of 140,000 molecular weight form the inner arm I1 and were extracted from the axoneme as a complex that had a sedimentation coefficient close to 21S at high ionic strength. Different subsets of two of the remaining four heavy chains form the inner arms 12 and I3. These arms at high ionic strength are dissociated as l lS particles that include one heavy chain, one intermediate chain, two light chains, and actin. These and other lines of evidence indicate that the inner arm I1 is different in structure and function from the inner arms 12 and 13.T HE inner dynein arms, unlike the outer dynein arms, are both necessary and sufficient to generate ciliary and flagellar axonemal bending (4). However, the molecular organization and composition of the inner dynein arms are not as well understood as those of the outer row of arms (for review see references 8, 16, 17, and 25). Through biochemical and electron microscopic analyses of Chlamydomonas wild-type and mutant axonemes, here we have begun to determine the composition of each inner dynein arm. In addition, we demonstrate that the row of inner arms is formed by three distinct structures, each having a specific location relative to the radial spokes S1 and $2 (see references 7 and 8).Several lines of evidence have suggested that the row of inner dynein arms is formed by more than one type of structure. First, as many as five inner arm heavy chains were identified by combined biochemical and microscopic analysis of Chlamydomonas mutants lacking either outer or inner dynein arms (11). Therefore, the existence of multiple inner arms was implied, as all dynein arms characterized so far are formed by at most three heavy chain subunits (6, 28). Second, in contrast to mutations affecting outer arm assembly, which cause the loss of all outer arm heavy chains along with the outer arms (15), mutations known to affect the assembly of inner arms cause the lack of only a subset of inner arm heavy chains (4,20). Third, EM of quick-frozen and deepetched samples has revealed that there are two types of inner arm structures, referred to as dyads and triads organized in triad-dyad-dyad triplet groups which repeat with a 96-nm interval (7,...

The nexin–dynein regulatory complex (N-DRC) is implicated in the control of dynein activity as a structural component of the nexin link. This study identifies several new subunits of the N-DRC and demonstrates for the first time that it forms a discrete biochemical complex that maintains outer doublet integrity and regulates microtubule sliding.

Genetic and in vitro analyses have revealed that radial spokes play a crucial role in regulation of ciliary and flagellar motility, including control of waveform. However, the mechanisms of regulation are not understood. Here, we developed a novel procedure to isolate intact radial spokes as a step toward understanding the mechanism by which these complexes regulate dynein activity. The isolated radial spokes sediment as 20S complexes that are the size and shape of radial spokes. Extracted radial spokes rescue radial spoke structure when reconstituted with isolated axonemes derived from the radial spoke mutant pf14. Isolated radial spokes are composed of the 17 previously defined spoke proteins as well as at least five additional proteins including calmodulin and the ubiquitous dynein light chain LC8. Analyses of flagellar mutants and chemical cross-linking studies demonstrated calmodulin and LC8 form a complex located in the radial spoke stalk. We postulate that calmodulin, located in the radial spoke stalk, plays a role in calcium control of flagellar bending.

Two alleles at a new locus, central pair–associated complex 1 (CPC1), were selected in a screen for Chlamydomonas flagellar motility mutations. These mutations disrupt structures associated with central pair microtubules and reduce flagellar beat frequency, but do not prevent changes in flagellar activity associated with either photophobic responses or phototactic accumulation of live cells. Comparison of cpc1 and pf6 axonemes shows that cpc1 affects a row of projections along C1 microtubules distinct from those missing in pf6, and a row of thin fibers that form an arc between the two central pair microtubules. Electron microscopic images of the central pair in axonemes from radial spoke–defective strains reveal previously undescribed central pair structures, including projections extending laterally toward radial spoke heads, and a diagonal link between the C2 microtubule and the cpc1 projection. By SDS-PAGE, cpc1 axonemes show reductions of 350-, 265-, and 79-kD proteins. When extracted from wild-type axonemes, these three proteins cosediment on sucrose gradients with three other central pair proteins (135, 125, and 56 kD) in a 16S complex. Characterization of cpc1 provides new insights into the structure and biochemistry of the central pair apparatus, and into its function as a regulator of dynein-based motility.

Summary Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is characterized by dysfunction in respiratory and reproductive cilia/flagella and random determination of visceral asymmetry. Here, we identify the DRC1 subunit of the Nexin-Dynein Regulatory Complex (N-DRC), an axonemal structure critical for regulation of the dynein motors, and demonstrate that DRC1/CCDC164 mutations are involved in the pathogenesis of PCD. Loss-of-function DRC1/CCDC164 mutations result in severe defects in assembly of the N-DRC structure and defective ciliary movement in Chlamydomonas and humans. Our results highlight the role of N-DRC integrity for regulation of ciliary beating and provide the first direct evidence that drc mutations cause human disease.