Figure 1: Molecular architecture of OSN cilia. | Nature Communications

Figure 1: Molecular architecture of OSN cilia.

From: Direct evidence for BBSome-associated intraflagellar transport reveals distinct properties of native mammalian cilia

Figure 1

(a) (Left) Illustration depicting a sagittal view of the mouse OE. (Middle) Scanning electron micrograph of the OE surface showing a dense mat of olfactory cilia. (Right) Illustration depicting multiple cilia on an OSN. (b) Representative confocal image of a coronal OE section from a Centrin2:GFP transgenic mouse stained for acetylated α-tubulin to reveal cilia. NC, nasal cavity. (Arrowheads) Side-by-side dendritic knobs revealed by Centrin2:GFP signal. (c–j) Representative live en face confocal images of AV-transduced native OE expressing various cilia domain-specific marker proteins. (c) AV-α-tubulin:RFP expression reveals many individual OSN microtubule axonemes projecting from two OSN dendritic knobs (arrowheads) on the surface of the OE. (d) Centrin-2:GFP transgenic mouse transduced with AV-Nphp4:mCherry. From left: Centrin-2:GFP-labelled basal bodies (BBs) line the periphery of OSN knobs. Nphp-4:mCherry marks ciliary transition zones (TZ), distally associated with each BB as seen in e. (f) A single TZ/BB unit. Far right: representative line-scan intensity plot showing the fluorescence profile of a single BB/TZ. (g) Co-expression of AV-Nphp-4:mCherry and doublet microtubule marker AV-GFP:Efhc1. GFP:Efhc1 is restricted to the proximal segment (PS) of each OSN ciliary axoneme. (i) A single TZ/PS unit. Far right: representative line-scan intensity plot showing the fluorescence profile of a single TZ/PS. (j) Co-expression of AV-GFP:Efhc1 and cilia peripheral membrane marker AV-Arl13b:mCherry. Arl13b:mCherry reveals axonemes of variable length (compare arrow and arrowhead), each extending from proximal segments marked by GFP:Efhc1. (k) Illustration depicting the ultrastructure of an OSN cilium in which a basal body gives rise to a transition zone followed by a ~2.5 μm doublet microtubule proximal segment and finally a singlet microtubule distal segment (DS) of variable length, sometimes exceeding 100 μm. Scale bars, 5 μm (a); 10 μm (b–d,g,j); 2.5 μm (e,h); 1.25 μm (f,i).

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