Regulation of Centriole Initiation
Initiation of centriole duplication is under tight regulation to ensure the control of centriole number (for more extensive coverage of this topic, see [
38–
40]). In mammalian cells, a single procentriole starts forming perpendicular to the wall of each parental centriole around the G1/S transition. Once the assembly of the two new procentrioles has been initiated, further centriole duplication is inhibited until the cells pass through mitosis [
41]. The release of the tight association of procentrioles with the parental centrioles, termed disengagement, occurs in late mitosis in animal cells. Disengagement involves the protease separase and Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) and is a prerequisite for the next round of centriole duplication [
42,
43]. When centrioles are absent, new centrioles can form
de novo, suggesting the role of pre-existing centrioles is not actually to template the procentrioles as long proposed, but rather to bias the spatial location where the procentrioles self-assemble [
44–
47]. When too many centrioles are present, cells can inhibit the synthesis of new centrioles, a mechanism that allows for correction of errors in centriole number [
48].
The key regulator of centriole assembly is a kinase called Polo-like kinase 4 (Plk4) or SAK in
Drosophila. Inhibiting Plk4 prevents centriole duplication in both human cells and flies [
49,
50]. Conversely, overexpression of Plk4 and SAK can trigger the assembly of supernumerary centrioles [
46,
47,
49,
50]. Interestingly, Plk4 orthologs are not found outside the Fungi/Metazoa group (), which suggests that centriole duplication is triggered by different mechanisms in other eukaryotes, possibly involving other Polo-like kinases [
22]. Also, no Plk4 ortholog is found in
Caenorhabditis elegans, in which centriole duplication is instead triggered by a non-orthologous kinase called ZYG-1 [
22,
51]. ZYG-1 controls the recruitment of the centriole structural component SAS-6, which is a substrate for ZYG-1 [
52–
54]. The recruitment of ZYG-1 itself requires SPD-2, a component of the PCM essential for centriole duplication in
C. elegans embryos [
7,
8,
52,
53]. Interestingly, SPD-2 family members are only found in the genomes of Unikonts, a branch of the eukaryotic tree comprising the Fungi/Metazoa group as well as Amoebozoa, such as the model organism
Dictyostelium discoideum () [
21,
22,
55]. Studies of SPD-2 orthologs in human and flies suggest that the primary function of SPD-2 and related proteins is to recruit PCM around the centrioles [
56–
58]. A SPD-2 ortholog is also found in the matrix associated with the
Dictyostelium nuclear-associated body, a very distinctive structure that forms the core of the
Dictyostelium centrosome [
55]. In addition to its role in PCM recruitment, the human ortholog of SPD-2, called Cep192, is essential for centriole duplication, whereas its
Drosophila ortholog appears dispensable for this process [
57,
58]. It is, however, possible that Cep192 affects centriole duplication indirectly through its ability to recruit PCM and microtubule-nucleating factors, as the PCM is known to play a role in centriole duplication [
59]. In contrast,
Drosophila Asterless (Asl) and related proteins are PCM components that appear to be more specifically required for centriole assembly [
60,
61]. In
Drosophila, Asl localizes near the centriole wall in both proliferating cells and in testes and is required for centriole duplication in both cases [
60,
61]. Cep152, the vertebrate ortholog of Asl, is a component of the PCM in proliferating human cells [
12]. Interestingly, zebrafish Cep152 was also found to be required for basal body assembly in multiciliated cells [
61]. In these cells, up to several hundreds of basal bodies assemble at the same time around structures of unknown composition called deuterosomes as the cells undergo differentiation [
62,
63]. The defect observed in Cep152-depleted zebrafish supports the idea that the initiation of basal body assembly in multiciliated cells relies at least in part on the same mechanisms as centriole duplication in proliferating cells.
Establishment of the Ninefold Symmetry
Initiation of centriole assembly and establishment of the ninefold symmetry require a structure called the cartwheel ( and ). The cartwheel is located at the proximal end of basal bodies in a wide range of species. In vertebrate centrosomes, a cartwheel structure is present at the base of procentrioles but is no longer seen in daughter and mother centrioles [
64,
65]. The structure of the cartwheel has been best described in unicellular organisms. It is formed by a central hub from which emanate nine evenly spaced spokes, terminated by a pinhead structure to which microtubule triplets attach (). In
Chlamydomonas, the cartwheel is assembled prior to the addition of microtubules at the tip of each spoke [
18]. Two components of the cartwheel have been described in this species. CrSAS-6/Bld12p, the homolog of
C. elegans SAS-6, has been proposed to be part of the inner spokes or the hub of the cartwheel [
66]. Bld10p, which also belongs to a conserved protein family, has been shown to form the outer spoke and the pinhead structure [
67]. Recent studies of mutants defective for these genes have provided important clues on how the cartwheel assembles and sets centriole radial symmetry. When
Chlamydomonas BLD12 is deleted, most cells lack a proper centriolar structure but approximately 20% of cells assemble defective centrioles that sometimes contain an abnormal number of triplets — 7, 8 or 10 — or have missing triplets. Strikingly, the hub is missing in
bld12 mutant centrioles [
66]. Similarly, depletion of SAS-6 by RNA interference (RNAi) in
Paramecium results in the formation of centrioles with altered numbers of triplets that retain the cartwheel spokes but are lacking the central hub [
68]. A
Drosophila SAS-6 null mutant is also found to have a significant reduction in the number of centrioles and forms centrioles with structural defects, for example, missing triplets [
69]. As in
Chlamydomonas, the
Paramecium and
Drosophila SAS-6 orthologs localize to the central hub of the cartwheel [
68,
70]. Together these results support the hypothesis that proteins of the SAS-6 family are required to build the central hub, and that the hub plays a role in establishing the ninefold symmetry [
39,
66,
69].
HsSAS-6, the human homolog of SAS-6, is also essential for the initial steps of centriole assembly but, unlike its homologs in other species that remain associated with mature centrioles, is no longer found associated with daughter and mother centrioles [
71,
72]. Loss of HsSAS-6 from the procentrioles correlates with its degradation by the 26S proteasome at the end of mitosis, and possibly also with the loss of the cartwheel structure that occurs as procentrioles become daughter centrioles () [
64,
65,
71]. In contrast, SAS-6 staining is retained at the proximal end of basal bodies from rat tracheal multiciliated cells, suggesting that the cartwheel may not disassemble in this case. Intriguingly, SAS-6 also localizes to the proximal region of ciliary axonemes in these cells, revealing a possible involvement in ciliary assembly or function [
73].
In
C. elegans, where SAS-6 was first identified, short centrioles composed of nine singlet rather than nine triplet microtubules are formed, and no recognizable cartwheel structure is observed. Microtubule singlets are instead seen to assemble around a structure that appears as a hollow cylinder by electron microscopy. The assembly of this structure, called the central tube, requires SAS-6 [
53]. Though different at the ultrastructural level, the central tube and the cartwheel thus share at least one component and are likely to be similarly required for establishing the ninefold symmetry of centrioles.
Recruitment of SAS-6 within procentrioles in
C. elegans requires SAS-5, a protein that physically interacts with SAS-6 and, like SAS-6, is essential for centriole duplication in this species [
10,
74]. Recently, a protein called Ana2 was shown to be the likely ortholog of SAS-5 in
Drosophila [
75]. Although poorly conserved at the amino acid level, Ana2 interacts with DSAS-6 and, like its
C. elegans counterpart, is essential for centriole duplication [
75–
77]. Interestingly, the human ortholog of Ana2, called STIL or SIL, has been shown to be essential for proper mitotic spindle assembly and has been linked to microcephaly, reminiscent of the centriole duplication factor CPAP, the human ortholog of
C. elegans SAS-4 (discussed further below) [
75,
78–
80]. Analysis of the dynamic properties of SAS-5 in
C. elegans, however, suggested that, rather than being a structural component of the centrioles, SAS-5 may be required for the recruitment of SAS-6 at procentriole assembly sites [
10,
74].
In addition to SAS-6-related proteins, the assembly of the cartwheel also depends on the conserved Bld10p/Cep135 family of proteins. Bld10p was originally identified as the product of a gene mutated in a
Chlamydomonas strain that completely lacks basal bodies and was shown to be a component of the cartwheel spokes [
9]. When the
Chlamydomonas bld10 mutant is complemented by a truncated version of Bld10p, centrioles with eight triplets are often observed. These centrioles assemble around a cartwheel with shorter spokes, which seemingly leads to the formation of a centriole of smaller diameter than can only accommodate eight triplets. The cartwheel still forms nine spokes, one of which is not linked to a triplet [
67]. Thus, if the central hub plays a critical role in attaining the correct ultrastructure by patterning centriole radial symmetry, the radial spokes, the length of which depends on Bld10p, do so by specifying centriole diameter.
Cep135, the human ortholog of Bld10p, also localizes to the cartwheel and is essential for centriole assembly [
72,
81]. In contrast, Bld10/Cep135 function is apparently dispensable for the initiation of centriole assembly in
Drosophila, as centrioles duplicate normally in mutant flies lacking the Bld10/Cep135 homolog [
82,
83]. Depletion of
Drosophila Bld10 by RNAi in S2 cells leads to a partial inhibition of centriole duplication, however, suggesting Bld10 could be required in some conditions [
77]. Ultrastructural analysis reveals that sperm axonemes in
bld10 mutant flies contain nine outer doublet microtubules, which shows that the centrioles from which they are assembled have a proper ninefold symmetry [
83]. However, sperm centrioles are shorter in these mutants than in wild-type flies and most of the flagella lack the central pair of microtubules, leading to male sterility [
22,
82,
83]. Whether the cartwheels assembled in the
bld10 mutant are normal is not known.
Steps preceding cartwheel formation remain poorly understood. In
Chlamydomonas and
Paramecium, the cartwheel assembles on an amorphous, disk-like structure [
18]. In addition to serving as a site of cartwheel assembly, the amorphous disk could play a role in establishing the ninefold symmetry by controlling the diameter of the centrioles, and thus the number of microtubule triplets that they can accommodate. In the
Chlamydomonas bld12 mutant, 70% of the basal bodies that retain a circular assembly of triplet microtubules exhibit ninefold symmetry, despite lacking the central hub of the cartwheel, suggesting additional mechanisms influence the radial symmetry of the centrioles [
66]. In
Paramecium, Bld10 depletion by RNAi leads to formation of centrioles that lack cartwheel spokes but retain the central hub, suggesting the hub is connected to the microtubule cylinder by another structure, most likely the amorphous disk [
68]. Similar disk-like structures have not been described in animal cells: instead, procentrioles appear to be linked to the wall of the parental centrioles by a connecting stalk [
65].
Assembly of Centriole Microtubules
Assembly of centriole triplet microtubules seems to occur sequentially. Singlet microtubules, or A-tubules, first attach to the spokes of the cartwheel then doublets and triplets (incomplete B and C-tubules, respectively) assemble ( and ) [
16,
18,
65]. Attachment of singlet microtubules is thought to require the conserved SAS-4 family of proteins, defined by
C. elegans SAS-4 and required for centriole duplication in diverse organisms [
5,
72,
84]. The likely homolog of SAS-4 in human cells is called CPAP. Though very divergent at the amino-acid level, CPAP is concentrated within the proximal lumen of the centrioles, where the cartwheel forms, and is required for centriole duplication, supporting the fact that it is the
bona fide homolog of
C. elegans SAS-4 [
72,
85]. In
C. elegans embryos, the central tube forms during S phase and elongates during prophase, and microtubules start to assemble around it during prometaphase. In embryos depleted of SAS-4, the central tube forms and elongates, but microtubules fail to attach [
53]. Centriolar SAS-4 increases as S phase progresses, suggesting that SAS-4 interacts with the central tube and that the amount of centriolar SAS-4 increases as the central tube elongates. Interestingly, centriolar SAS-4 remains in dynamic exchange with the cytoplasmic pool until prophase/prometaphase, where it becomes stably associated with the centrioles [
86]. This suggests that centriolar SAS-4 may be stabilized by the assembly of centriolar microtubules. This model is further supported by the observation that stabilization of centriolar SAS-4 requires γ-tubulin, which is believed to nucleate centriole microtubules, as well as β-tubulin. Moreover, γ-tubulin is required for the accumulation of SAS-4 in the pericentriolar matrix, suggesting a possible interaction between these two proteins [
86]. In human cells, CPAP has been shown to co-immunoprecipitate with γ-tubulin [
87]. γ-tubulin function in centriole assembly also appears to be conserved, as γ-tubulin is required for centriole duplication in a wide range of eukaryotes [
72,
88–
90]. γ-tubulin function appears to be critical in the control of centriole assembly, because the introduction of specific mutations in γ-tubulin is sufficient to induce the assembly of extra centrioles in
Tetrahymena [
91].
A recent study utilizing cryo-electron microscopy provides important new insights into the mechanism of procentriole microtubule assembly in human centrosomes [
65]. In nascent procentrioles, the proximal or minus end of the A-tubule is capped by a conical structure resembling the γ-tubulin ring complex (γ-TuRC), a structure known to nucleate microtubules in animal cells (). This suggests that each A-tubule is nucleated by a γ-TuRC and then grows unidirectionally from the proximal to the distal end. Supporting this hypothesis, the distal or plus end of the A-tubules from assembling procentrioles show outwardly curved extensions characteristic of growing microtubule extremities. In contrast, the incomplete B- and C-tubules are never capped at their proximal end, suggesting that their assembly is initiated by a different mechanism. The B- and C-tubules appear to start assembling at variable positions along the A- or B-tubules, respectively, and undergo bidirectional growth as suggested by the presence of curved extensions at both the proximal and distal ends of B- and C-tubules before they reach their final length. The proximal ends of the B- and C-tubules become blunt as they reach the proximal extremity of the A-tubule, suggesting that a mechanism of stabilization occurs at that time [
65].
Studies in
Chlamydomonas and
Paramecium revealed a role for tubulin family members δ- and ε-tubulin in the formation or stabilization of the B- and C-tubules [
1,
3,
92,
93]. In the
Chlamydomonas bld2-1 mutant, which expresses a truncated form of ε-tubulin, doublet and triplet microtubules are missing [
3]. In
Chlamydomonas and
Paramecium cells defective for δ-tubulin, the C-tubule is often missing and most centrioles are composed of doublet microtubules [
1,
92]. The requirement for δ-tubulin in C-tubule formation can be bypassed by suppressor mutations in α-tubulin, suggesting that δ-tubulin may be required for triplet stabilization rather than for C-tubule assembly [
94]. Furthermore, genes encoding ε- and δ-tubulins are absent from the
Drosophila genome, despite the fact that centrioles containing triplet microtubules are formed in this species [
95]. To date, there is still no mechanistic clue as to how the formation of the incomplete B- and C-tubules is achieved.