3.1. Ciliary length control models
In order to understand the factors that give rise to a steady state ciliary length and what perturbations may break that homeostasis, it is a useful exercise to consider various models of length control that are consistent with existing data and make predictions about untested hypotheses. The simplest model would be that a cell simply produces the exact quantity of flagellar precursor proteins to build a flagellum or a certain length (). However we know that the availability of cytoplasmic precursors is not limiting because in experiments where protein synthesis is blocked with cyclohexamide and flagellar severing is subsequently induced, resulting in loss of all exisiting axonemal proteins, the flagella regenerate to up to half of normal length (
Rosenbaum et al., 1969). Moreover, the weak dependence of flagellar length on the number of flagella per cell is not consistent with such a limiting precursor model (
Kuchka and Jarvik, 1982;
Marshall et al., 2005).
One alternative scheme is the balance point model proposed by Marshall (
Marshall et al., 2005;
Marshall and Rosenbaum, 2001), which is based on a few key observations from experiments in
Chlamydomonas flagella (). First, flagellar assembly during regeneration slows as the flagellum elongates (
Marshall, 2002;
Rosenbaum and Child, 1967). Second, when IFT is inhibited by a temperature sensitive mutation in the anterograde motor, flagella begin to shorten, suggesting that tubulin at flagellar tips is constantly being turned over (
Marshall, 2002;
Song and Dentler, 2001;
Stephens, 1997). Finally, the disassembly that takes place during that shortening and induced resorption is constant (length independent) (
Kozminski et al., 1995;
Marshall et al., 2005;
Marshall and Rosenbaum, 2001;
Parker and Quarmby, 2003). The balance point model postulates that at the intersection of the decreasing assembly rate and the constant disassembly rate is the length set point (). At axoneme lengths longer than this set point, the disassembly rate would exceed the assembly rate and the flagella would shorten. At lengths shorter than the set point, the assembly rate would predominate and the flagella would lengthen. The length-dependent assembly rate is now thought to arise from a fixed amount of IFT protein being packaged into smaller IFT trains (with a smaller tubulin carrying capacity) as the length of the flagellum increases (
Engel et al., 2009). The length independence of the total IFT protein content can be explained if the same cycling IFT proteins must be retrieved from the flagellar tip in order to form new trains. This retrieval for individual particles would take longer as the flagellar length increases, decreasing the amount of IFT protein available for redeployment at any given time. However, there is currently no direct evidence for such a restriction of IFT protein exchange, and so we must consider how the quantity of IFT protein could be held constant if IFT proteins are constantly moving in an out of the flagellum. Moreover, a simple model in which an initial bolus of IFT protein is confined within the flagellum does not explain the remodeling of trains as a function of length. It therefore seems likely that the flagellum will employ some sort of length sensing or measuring mechanism to adjust the quantity of IFT particle proteins that are imported into the flagellum.
Some candidates have been implicated in regulating this type of sensing mechanism. Recent evidence has shown the critical function of the Cep290 protein. Cep290 is a Meckel syndrome associated protein that is located at the transition zone and appears to regulate levels of IFT complexes and ciliary entry of membrane associated proteins (
Craige et al., 2010). Cep290 appears to be involved in membrane attachment to the transition zone. The gating activity of Cep290 may be regulated by its associated protein CP110. CP110 restricts cilia formation and requires the interaction with CEP290 for this function (
Tsang et al., 2008). One model of ciliary entry based on import of the Kif17 ciliary motor involves the shuttling of cilium-targeted proteins by the nuclear import protein, importin β2 (
Dishinger et al., 2010). In this model, cargo is released into the ciliary compartment due to displacement on importin by GTP-bound Ran GTPase. An enrichment of RanGTP in the cilium is thought to give rise to ciliary import. Other proteins thought to regulate ciliary gating are the septins, which were shown to form a membrane diffusion barrier (
Hu et al., 2010). Recently, the idea of a septin diffusion barrier has been challenged by the proposal that proteins are excluded from the cilium by anchoring to the cortical actin cytoskeleton (
Francis et al., 2011).
Several findings must be addressed in order to further evaluate the balance point model and alternative models involving feedback mechanisms. The following two sections highlight recent identification of modulators of flagellar length that involve direct modification of IFT or axoneme stability (Section 3.2) and signaling mechanisms that can induce ciliary length changes (Section 3.3).
3.2. Length regulation related to axoneme modification
Because of recent explosion interest in regulation of ciliogenesis and ciliary length, a great deal more is known about proteins essential for maintenance. Some of these proteins modify mechanics of IFT, thereby axonemal assembly and elongation. Others directly alter microtubule stability by altering post-translational modification state. In addition to the mechanisms that can directly alter axoneme formation or stability, a great many signaling pathways can also alter the percentage of ciliated cells in a population or alter ciliary length (see section 3.3) by unknown mechanisms. It is possible that the pathways regulating direct axoneme assembly involve yet unidentified downstream effectors of altered signaling. A summary of ciliary length altering proteins can be found in .
| Table 1Cilium Length Altering Proteins |
One class of proteins known to directly regulate axoneme structure includes both cilia specific and cilia non-specific microtubule motors. Anterograde motors such as the members of the Kinesin-2 and -3 family described in section 2.3 are required for axoneme formation and result in shortened or absent cilia in mice (
Takeda et al., 1999),
C. elegans (
Cole et al., 1998;
Morsci and Barr, 2011;
Perkins et al., 1986;
Snow et al., 2004) and
Chlamydomonas (
Cole et al., 1998;
Kozminski et al., 1995) among others when disrupted. As discussed previously, in
Leishmania and
Giardia, microtubule depolymerizing Kinesin-13 promotes flagellar disassembly (
Blaineau et al., 2007;
Dawson et al., 2007), but this kinesin appears to be required for proper flagellar regeneration as well in
Chlamydomonas (
Piao et al., 2009). In addition to kinesins, dyneins also play a role in ciliary length regulation. A light chain of cytoplasmic dynein, Tctex-1, is responsible for restricting cilia length. Loss of this subunit results in increased cilia length (
Palmer et al., 2011). Retrograde intraflagellar transport is mediated by cytoplasmic dynein-2. In
Tetrahymena, loss of dynein-2 results in lengthened cilia (
Asai et al., 2009;
Rajagopalan et al., 2009). Decreased expression of a dynein intermediate chain, d2lic, by blocking its transcription results in abnormally short nodal cilia (
Bonnafe et al., 2004).
Alteration of intraflagellar transport proteins has also been shown to prevent proper cilium formation. A murine hypomorph of IFT88 called
Tg737orpk results in shortened kidney cilia and is a model for polycystic kidney disease (
Pazour et al., 2000). The small GTPase Arl-13 appears responsible for coupling IFT complexes A and B. Its loss results in short cilia, an effect that may be rescued by another GTPase Arl-3 (
Li et al., 2010). IFT70, a complex B component which binds directly to IFT46, is essential for flagellar assembly (
Fan et al., 2010). Defects in IFT170, a complex A protein, also shows phenotypes of abnormal cilia and VACTERL-like features including a motile cilia phenotype, hydrocephalus (
Friedland-Little et al., 2011).
As we have seen, loss of IFT proteins can prevent proper cilium assembly. It is also of great interest to determine how IFT is regulated in mutants with excessively long cilia. A previous report described an increase in IFT protein within flagella in a null mutant of the
lf3 gene in
Chlamydomonas, based on Western blot analysis of isolated flagella, implicating this gene in regulating IFT injection into the flagella (
Tam et al., 2003). However, this result is potentially difficult to interpret, because the mutant analyzed has short stumpy flagella and therefore equal protein loading would result in a larger number of short flagella being loaded onto the gel compared to wild-type flagella. Because long and short flagella have equal amounts of IFT protein (
Marshall et al., 2005), any increase in the number of loaded flagella per well would lead to the appearance of increased IFT protein in these mutants on a Western blot. Our own observations show that in studies of long flagella mutants in
Chlamydomonas, IFT profiles are altered such that rather than switching from larger IFT trains to smaller trains as flagella elongate, larger trains persist (our unpublished observations). These cells inappropriately behave as if their flagella are shorter and must elongate further even after they reach wild-type length. Much more work needs to be done to determine the mechanism of injection of inappropriately sized trains, and more generally to understand how particular mutations that alter length may affect IFT or axonemal dynamics.
In addition to ciliary motors and IFT proteins, several direct modifiers of microtubule stability or microtubule binding proteins can control ciliary length. As one might expect, modulating levels of cytosolic tubulin by a variety of mechanisms can alter cilia length (
Sharma et al., 2011). Tubulin acetylation is known to stabilize microtubules and is regulated by the tubulin deacetylase, HDAC6 (
Hubbert et al., 2002). While tubascin, a small molecule inhibitor of HDAC6, does not influence changes in ciliary length in mammalian cells (
Sharma et al., 2011), ciliary disassembly does require activation of HDAC6 by Aurora A kinase (
Pugacheva et al., 2007). Additionally, loss of HDAC binding domain-containing proteins Cep70 and Cep131 results in shorter cilia in zebrafish (
Wilkinson et al., 2009). As mentioned in section 2.1, ubiquitination and methylation programs are also activated in resorbing cilia (
Huang et al., 2009;
Schneider et al., 2008). Another method of direct axoneme regulation may be the binding of doublecortin (DC) domain proteins, which can directly bind microtubules and facilitate polymerization. A DC-domain containing protein, DCDC2, increases the length of cilia two-fold when overexpressed in hippocampal neurons and fibroblasts (
Massinen et al., 2011). Overexpression of another DC domain protein, RP1, in mammalian photoreceptors increases cilium length (
Omori et al., 2010) and it’s disruption causes autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (a disorder of degenerating photoreceptor cilia). RP1 is phosphorylated by a male germ cell kinase (MAK). Defects in this kinase result in excessively long cilia that have an extended region of acetylated tubulin labeling (
Omori et al., 2010). This hyperacetylation may inhibit the normal turnover required for ciliary maintenance at an appropriate length.
In addition to effects of integral cilia proteins, some basal body and transition zone proteins have also been shown to be essential regulators of ciliary length. In RPE1 cells, siRNA depletion of Nphp-8, a protein associated with renal and retinal function, resulted in elongated cilia (
Patzke et al., 2010). In
C. elegans, the same protein is required for proper ciliary elongation in a subset of ciliated neurons (
Liu et al., 2011). A complex of disease-associated proteins localized to the transition zone was found to be required for ciliary formation or length maintenance in a tissue-specific manner. This complex contains Tctn1, Tctn2, Tmem67, and Cc2d2a (
Garcia-Gonzalo et al., 2011). While it is easy to see how basal body docking can influence formation of cilia, it is less clear how proteins localized there are regulating cilium length. It is possible that they some of these proteins are responsible for recruitment of proteins necessary for cilium assembly or that they are regulating entrance of IFT trains into the cilium at the transition zone. Further work is needed to elucidate mechanisms of ciliary length control by basal body proteins.
3.3. Length regulation related to intracellular signaling
Clearly the days of viewing primary cilia as vestigial or static organelles are over. However, the role of cilia, not simply as sensory structures, but also as signaling hubs is under-appreciated. It is important to think of the signaling proteins and molecules that regulate ciliary length and function as large interconnected super-networks, but individual pathways can be identified to fill in this picture. The identified signaling proteins include Aurora, CDK, NIMA and MAP kinases. Additionally, ciliogenesis and ciliary length can be regulated by the Wnt, PCP, Shh and Notch developmentally regulated pathways. Finally, modulation of sensory pathways by altering G-protein coupled receptor signaling can alter ciliary length, as can regulation of second messengers.
Section 2.1 highlighted the links between ciliogenesis and cell cycle progression. Modulation of several cell cycle related kinases can alter ciliary length. In zebrafish Cdc14b, the phosphatase that antagonizes Cdk1, was required for both primary and motile cilia to reach full length (
Clement et al., 2011). In
Chlamydomonas, a hypomorphic mutation of a CDK related kinase Lf2p results in excessively long flagella, while null mutants have stumpy flagella that are often of unequal flagellar length (
Tam et al., 2007). The mechanism that regulates this variable phenotype is not yet understood. In
C. elegans, defects in daf-19, an LF2 related protein localized to the ciliary base, result in truncated cilia (
Phirke et al., 2011). As mentioned previously, the mitotic kinase Aurora A and aurora-like kinase CALK are required for ciliary disassembly (
Luo et al., 2011;
Pugacheva et al., 2007). In
Chlamydomonas, the phosphorylation state of CALK also shifts when flagellar length reaches 6 μm (half of wild-type length), even in the case of long flagella mutants for which 6 μm is not half length (
Luo et al., 2011). CALK is the first molecule to show absolute dependence on ciliary length for its modification state.
Another set of kinases involved in cell cycle control, the NIMA-related kinases (NRKs or NEKs) are responsible for cilia length regulation. In
Tetrahymena, a variety of NRKs promote ciliary disassembly including Nrk2p, Nrk17p, and Nrk30p (
Wloga et al., 2006). The same holds true in
Chlamydomonas, in which knockdown of the NRK Cnk2p results in longer flagella (
Bradley and Quarmby, 2005). In mice, loss of Nek8 produces excessively long renal cilia (
Smith et al., 2006;
Sohara et al., 2008). Other Neks appear to have the opposite effect on ciliary length. Loss of Nek1 results in reduced cilia with significantly shorter length and altered morphology (
Thiel et al., 2011) and Nek4 reduces ciliary assembly in RPE1 cells, but this does not appear to be due to defects in mitotic progression (
Coene et al., 2011).
It is well known that in many mammalian cell types cell proliferation can be slowed and ciliogenesis can be induced by serum starvation. Serum contains the growth factors that activate cell surface receptor tyrosine kinases for mitogenic signaling through MAP kinase activation. In quiescent fibroblasts, it has been shown that the PDGF receptor is localized to cilia and that proper cilia formation is required for mitogenic MAP kinase signaling (
Schneider et al., 2005). In MDCK cells, knockdown of both the GTPase cdc42 and ciliogenic trafficking exocyst proteins results in MAP kinase activation (
Zuo et al., 2011). Impairment in MAP kinase signaling has repeatedly been shown to result in increased ciliary length. In
Chlamydomonas, null mutants of the LF4p MAP kinase have flagella several times longer than wild-type (
Asleson and Lefebvre, 1998;
Berman et al., 2003). MAK, the germ cell kinase that phosphorylates and antagonizes the microtubule RP1 (
Omori et al., 2010), is a MAP kinase that appears to restrict cilium length as described in section 3.2. Finally, In
C. elegans, mutants of the dyf-5 MAP kinase result in increased cilia length due to changes in ciliary motor docking (
Burghoorn et al., 2010).
Chlamydomonas LF4p, mammalian MAK, and
C. elegans dyf-5 all have similar sequences due to conserved motifs found in all MAP kinases and appear to have similar loss of function phenotypes. However, each organism expresses several other MAP kinases with equally high sequence identity. Readers are cautioned not to make conclusions about functional orthologs as these related kinases are also uncharacterized with regard to ciliary phenotypes.
Although much of our knowledge of signaling molecules that affect ciliary assembly or length comes from direct measurements of cilia in experimental cells, another source of insights comes from ciliary disease genes and disease model mutations in genes that encode signaling molecules. For example, a major cause of developmental phenotypes seen in ciliopathy patients is loss of sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling. Localization of the seven transmembrane protein smoothened (Smo) to the primary cilium was shown to be essential for Shh signaling (
Corbit et al., 2005). Shh signal transducing Gli transcription factors are localized to cilia tips. Additionally loss of IFT88 results in altered Gli3 processing and alleviates repression of Gli1 transcription (
Haycraft et al., 2005). Several proteins that affect Shh signaling turn out to play a role in ciliary formation or length regulation. Broad-minded (Bromi) is a zebrafish protein that interacts with cell cycle-related kinase (CCRK), a homolog of
Chlamydomonas LF2p. Bromi is thought to coordinate membrane and axoneme assembly by regulating attachment of the ciliary membrane (
Ko et al., 2010). MIM, which is the protein capable of regulating ciliogenesis by regulating actin polymerization via cortactin described in section 2.2, positively regulates the Shh pathway by binding suppressor of fused (Sufu) and Gli (
Callahan et al., 2004). Additionally, over-expression of the forkhead transcription factor Foxj1 is sufficient to increase ciliary length and can decrease the activity of Gli proteins (
Cruz et al., 2010). While cilia are required for proper hedgehog signaling in vertebrates, they are despensible for hedgehog signaling in
Drosophila (
Han et al., 2003;
Ray et al., 1999).
In addition to Shh, modulation of proteins in the Wnt and planar cell polarity (PCP) pathways have ciliary consequences. For example, Gsk3β is a kinase that can phosphorylate and lead to the degradation of β-catenin in the Wnt pathway. Inhibition of Gsk3β with lithium chloride results in significantly elongated flagella in
Chlamydomonas (
Nakamura et al., 1987;
Wilson and Lefebvre, 2004) and also lengthened cilia in mammalian cells and tissues (
Miyoshi et al., 2009). In the non-canonical Wnt signaling PCP pathway Par3/Par6/aPKC, which reside at the base of the cilium, can regulate ciliogenesis (
Sfakianos et al., 2007) and interact with ciliary kinesin-II (
Fan et al., 2004).
Recently, Notch signaling has been implicated in ciliogenesis and cilium length regulation. In
Xenopus laevis embryonic epidermis, microRNAs were identified that promote centriole duplication by inhibition of Notch signaling and allow cells to become multiciliated (
Marcet et al., 2011a;
Marcet et al., 2011b). Additionally, in zebrafish, inhibiting Notch signaling shortened cilia in the Kupffer’s vesicle and Notch signaling hyperactivation resulted in elongated cilia (
Lopes et al., 2010). Finally, directly inhibiting ciliogenesis in murine epidermal keratinocytes caused hyperproliferation, prevented Notch signaling activation and caused a failure of these cells to differentiate (
Ezratty et al., 2011). In these cells, Notch signaling seems to balance proliferation and differentiation consistent with a role in centriolar regulation however, the mechanism by which ciliary length control is achieved remains obscure.
Finally, many extracellular signaling pathways with variable effects on cilia length can utilize the same second messengers for transduction. Therefore it is difficult to infer the cilia length-altering effects of changes in second messengers alone. Primary cilia length can be increased by increases in cAMP (
Abdul-Majeed et al., 2011;
Besschetnova et al., 2010). Paradoxically, inhibition of adenylate cyclase III was found to significantly increase cilia length (
Ou et al., 2009). A decrease in intracellular calcium was shown to increase cilia length in cultured mammalian cells (
Besschetnova et al., 2010), but activators of calcium dependent protein kinase C result in increased cilia length as well (
Abdul-Majeed et al., 2011).
Currently we are faced with a growing list of signaling molecules that affect ciliary length, without having much mechanistic information as to how they exert such an effect. In each case it is essential to ask which aspect of ciliogenesis and length control is being modulated by a given signaling pathways. A great deal of work is being done to understand how changes in the regulation of IFT that can result in abnormal ciliary length, as well as to identify ciliary phenotypes resulting from abnormal signaling pathways involved in other cellular processes. In the upcoming phase of ciliary exploration, it is important we begin to connect these distributed fields and identify the modulation in IFT rate and frequency in conditions of altered cellular signaling. We must continue to identify novel proteins that are essential players in ciliogenesis for which proteomics (
Keller et al., 2009;
Pazour et al., 2005), transcriptomics (
Blacque et al., 2005), and genetic screening (
Kim et al., 2010) have already played essential roles. However, modeling efforts remain essential for generating plausible hypotheses and testing predictions informed by existing functional data.