The eukaryotic motile cilia and flagella are made up of a complex arrangement of microtubules and associated proteins. The core of the flagellum has a characteristic ‘9 microtubule doublets + 2 central pair’ arrangement. However, the exact structure of these multiprotein complexes has been the subject of intense debate in the field, and better structural information is needed. To this end, Takashi Ishikawa and colleagues (Poghosyan et al., 2020) have now obtained radial spoke (RS) complexes of Chlamydomonas flagella by using an improved purification protocol and analysed them with single-particle cryo-EM. This approach demonstrated a two-fold symmetry of the spoke head region, extending towards the neck, and the absence of any symmetry in the stalk region. The authors also identified protein–protein interactions within the RS complex by performing on-bead cross-linking mass spectrometry. This revealed that radial spoke protein 2 (RSP2), located in the neck region, interacts with RSP4 from the head region. To further assign the other parts of the complex, analytical ultracentrifugation and multi-angle light-scattering measurements were employed, which show that RSP10 is present as a dimer, thus further refining the overall RS structure and its assembly. These new details of the RS structure might help to provide a better understanding of flagellar motion and allow its comparison between species.
A detailed structure of the radial spoke complex
A detailed structure of the radial spoke complex. J Cell Sci 15 August 2020; 133 (16): e1602. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Introducing our new Editors
We welcome three new Editors to Journal of Cell Science - Robert Parton, Richa Rikhy and Simon Cook. You can read more about them in the Editorial from our Editor-in-Chief Michael Way.
2024 Journal Meeting 'Diversity and Evolution in Cell Biology'
Registration is open for our 2024 Journal Meeting Diversity and Evolution in Cell Biology, which aims to bring together evolutionary biologists and cell biologists investigating diverse aspects of cellular physiology. Final registration deadline: 3 May 2024.
Workshop: Physics of the Early Embryonic Cell Divisions
Early-career researchers interested in the roles of nuclear lipids, apply now for one of the ten funded places at this Workshop, which will take place 11-14 November 2024. Application deadline: 17 May.
Reasons to submit to Journal of Cell Science
There are many benefits to publishing in Journal of Cell Science - read more about why you should choose JCS or visit our submission page now.
Propose a new Workshop for 2026
We are now accepting proposals for our 2026 Workshops programme. We aim to be responsive to the community and open to novel initiatives, so if you have a new idea for a biological workshop that you feel would work well, please apply. Applications deadline: 19 July 2024.