Background: Heterotrimeric kinesin-2 (KIF3) has been implicated in intraflagellar trafficking of photoreceptor membrane proteins by IFT. Results: KIF3 and IFT88 are required for transition zone and axoneme formation, but are dispensable for rhodopsin trafficking. Conclusion: Transmembrane proteins, including rhodopsin, traffic to the OS even when IFT is disabled. Significance: KIF3 builds and maintains the photoreceptor transition zone and axoneme that are essential for photoreceptor integrity and vision.
Gravity is a critical environmental factor regulating directional growth and morphogenesis in plants, and gravitropism is the process by which plants perceive and respond to the gravity vector. The cytoskeleton is proposed to play important roles in gravitropism, but the underlying mechanisms are obscure. Here we use genetic screening in Physcomitrella patens, to identify a locus GTRC, that when mutated, reverses the direction of protonemal gravitropism. GTRC encodes a processive minus-end-directed KCHb kinesin, and its N-terminal, C-terminal and motor domains are all essential for transducing the gravity signal. Chimeric analysis between GTRC/KCHb and KCHa reveal a unique role for the N-terminus of GTRC in gravitropism. Further study shows that gravity-triggered normal asymmetric distribution of actin filaments in the tip of protonema is dependent on GTRC. Thus, our work identifies a microtubule-based cellular motor that determines the direction of plant gravitropism via mediating the asymmetric distribution of actin filaments.
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