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Using Paramecium as a Model for Ciliopathies

Paramecium has served as a model organism for the studies of many aspects of genetics and cell biology: non-Mendelian inheritance, genome duplication, genome rearrangements, and exocytosis, to name a few. However, the large number and patterning of cilia that cover its surface have inspired extraord...

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Autores principales: Valentine, Megan, Van Houten, Judith
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535419/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34680887
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes12101493
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author Valentine, Megan
Van Houten, Judith
author_facet Valentine, Megan
Van Houten, Judith
author_sort Valentine, Megan
collection PubMed
description Paramecium has served as a model organism for the studies of many aspects of genetics and cell biology: non-Mendelian inheritance, genome duplication, genome rearrangements, and exocytosis, to name a few. However, the large number and patterning of cilia that cover its surface have inspired extraordinary ultrastructural work. Its swimming patterns inspired exquisite electrophysiological studies that led to a description of the bioelectric control of ciliary motion. A genetic dissection of swimming behavior moved the field toward the genes and gene products underlying ciliary function. With the advent of molecular technologies, it became clear that there was not only great conservation of ciliary structure but also of the genes coding for ciliary structure and function. It is this conservation and the legacy of past research that allow us to use Paramecium as a model for cilia and ciliary diseases called ciliopathies. However, there would be no compelling reason to study Paramecium as this model if there were no new insights into cilia and ciliopathies to be gained. In this review, we present studies that we believe will do this. For example, while the literature continues to state that immotile cilia are sensory and motile cilia are not, we will provide evidence that Paramecium cilia are clearly sensory. Other examples show that while a Paramecium protein is highly conserved it takes a different interacting partner or conducts a different ion than expected. Perhaps these exceptions will provoke new ideas about mammalian systems.
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spelling pubmed-85354192021-10-23 Using Paramecium as a Model for Ciliopathies Valentine, Megan Van Houten, Judith Genes (Basel) Review Paramecium has served as a model organism for the studies of many aspects of genetics and cell biology: non-Mendelian inheritance, genome duplication, genome rearrangements, and exocytosis, to name a few. However, the large number and patterning of cilia that cover its surface have inspired extraordinary ultrastructural work. Its swimming patterns inspired exquisite electrophysiological studies that led to a description of the bioelectric control of ciliary motion. A genetic dissection of swimming behavior moved the field toward the genes and gene products underlying ciliary function. With the advent of molecular technologies, it became clear that there was not only great conservation of ciliary structure but also of the genes coding for ciliary structure and function. It is this conservation and the legacy of past research that allow us to use Paramecium as a model for cilia and ciliary diseases called ciliopathies. However, there would be no compelling reason to study Paramecium as this model if there were no new insights into cilia and ciliopathies to be gained. In this review, we present studies that we believe will do this. For example, while the literature continues to state that immotile cilia are sensory and motile cilia are not, we will provide evidence that Paramecium cilia are clearly sensory. Other examples show that while a Paramecium protein is highly conserved it takes a different interacting partner or conducts a different ion than expected. Perhaps these exceptions will provoke new ideas about mammalian systems. MDPI 2021-09-24 /pmc/articles/PMC8535419/ /pubmed/34680887 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes12101493 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Valentine, Megan
Van Houten, Judith
Using Paramecium as a Model for Ciliopathies
title Using Paramecium as a Model for Ciliopathies
title_full Using Paramecium as a Model for Ciliopathies
title_fullStr Using Paramecium as a Model for Ciliopathies
title_full_unstemmed Using Paramecium as a Model for Ciliopathies
title_short Using Paramecium as a Model for Ciliopathies
title_sort using paramecium as a model for ciliopathies
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535419/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34680887
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes12101493
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