Complex Role of Cilium-Generated Signaling

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2023) | Viewed by 4327

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Centre for Predictive in vitro Models, School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
Interests: primary cilia structure and function; cell and tissue biomechanics and mechanobiology; organ-on-a-chip in vitro models
Centre for OA Pathogenesis Versus Arthritis, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, NDORMS, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Headington, Oxford OX3 7FY, UK
Interests: primary cilia; inflammatory signalling; osteoarthritis; endocytosis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last thirty years, primary cilia have gone from organelles that few believed existed, let alone had any function, to ones that are now known to be involved in an expanding array of cell signalling pathways important for human development, health, and disease.

When Satir, Pedersen, and Christensen published their seminar review of primary cilia in 2010 (J Cell Sci), they described key cilia signalling pathways, including hedgehog signalling, growth factor signalling, mechanosignalling, and planar cell polarity. Since then, our mechanistic understanding of the role of primary cilia and associated proteins in these signalling pathways has hugely expanded. These pathways are coordinated on or by the cilium and associated structures and are canonically dependent on the process of intraflagellar transport (IFT) to shuttle signalling proteins on and off the axoneme.

Studies are now identifying new cilia signalling pathways and the role of specific cilia-associated proteins. Other studies are beginning to unravel the fundamental structure–function relationships that govern cilia signalling behaviour, as well as the involvement of defined regions of the cilia complex, including the basal body and ciliary pocket. There is an increasing understanding of how multiple different factors within the biochemical and biophysical cellular environment can modulate cilia structure and function. This research is supported by whole-genome sequencing and the omic revolution, which reveal new information linking cilia and associated signalling with disease. This leads to exciting studies exploring the therapeutic potential of ciliatherapy, involving cilia modulation through either pharmaceutical or genetic intervention, to control cilia signalling.

This Special Edition on cilia signalling welcomes articles covering all aspects of cilia signalling, from individual molecule to whole system and organism biology.

Prof. Dr. Martin Knight
Dr. Angus Wann
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • primary cilia
  • signalling
  • structure
  • ciliopathy
  • ciliatherapy

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 9758 KiB  
Article
De-Suppression of Mesenchymal Cell Identities and Variable Phenotypic Outcomes Associated with Knockout of Bbs1
by Grace Mercedes Freke, Tiago Martins, Rosalind Jane Davies, Tina Beyer, Marian Seda, Emma Peskett, Naila Haq, Avishek Prasai, Georg Otto, Jeshmi Jeyabalan Srikaran, Victor Hernandez, Gaurav D. Diwan, Robert B. Russell, Marius Ueffing, Martina Huranova, Karsten Boldt, Philip L. Beales and Dagan Jenkins
Cells 2023, 12(22), 2662; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12222662 - 20 Nov 2023
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Abstract
Bardet–Biedl syndrome (BBS) is an archetypal ciliopathy caused by dysfunction of primary cilia. BBS affects multiple tissues, including the kidney, eye and hypothalamic satiety response. Understanding pan-tissue mechanisms of pathogenesis versus those which are tissue-specific, as well as gauging their associated inter-individual variation [...] Read more.
Bardet–Biedl syndrome (BBS) is an archetypal ciliopathy caused by dysfunction of primary cilia. BBS affects multiple tissues, including the kidney, eye and hypothalamic satiety response. Understanding pan-tissue mechanisms of pathogenesis versus those which are tissue-specific, as well as gauging their associated inter-individual variation owing to genetic background and stochastic processes, is of paramount importance in syndromology. The BBSome is a membrane-trafficking and intraflagellar transport (IFT) adaptor protein complex formed by eight BBS proteins, including BBS1, which is the most commonly mutated gene in BBS. To investigate disease pathogenesis, we generated a series of clonal renal collecting duct IMCD3 cell lines carrying defined biallelic nonsense or frameshift mutations in Bbs1, as well as a panel of matching wild-type CRISPR control clones. Using a phenotypic screen and an unbiased multi-omics approach, we note significant clonal variability for all assays, emphasising the importance of analysing panels of genetically defined clones. Our results suggest that BBS1 is required for the suppression of mesenchymal cell identities as the IMCD3 cell passage number increases. This was associated with a failure to express epithelial cell markers and tight junction formation, which was variable amongst clones. Transcriptomic analysis of hypothalamic preparations from BBS mutant mice, as well as BBS patient fibroblasts, suggested that dysregulation of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) genes is a general predisposing feature of BBS across tissues. Collectively, this work suggests that the dynamic stability of the BBSome is essential for the suppression of mesenchymal cell identities as epithelial cells differentiate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Complex Role of Cilium-Generated Signaling)
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16 pages, 3842 KiB  
Article
Eupatilin Improves Cilia Defects in Human CEP290 Ciliopathy Models
by Julio C. Corral-Serrano, Paul E. Sladen, Daniele Ottaviani, Olivia F. Rezek, Dimitra Athanasiou, Katarina Jovanovic, Jacqueline van der Spuy, Brian C. Mansfield and Michael E. Cheetham
Cells 2023, 12(12), 1575; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12121575 - 7 Jun 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2404
Abstract
The photoreceptor outer segment is a highly specialized primary cilium that is essential for phototransduction and vision. Biallelic pathogenic variants in the cilia-associated gene CEP290 cause non-syndromic Leber congenital amaurosis 10 (LCA10) and syndromic diseases, where the retina is also affected. While RNA [...] Read more.
The photoreceptor outer segment is a highly specialized primary cilium that is essential for phototransduction and vision. Biallelic pathogenic variants in the cilia-associated gene CEP290 cause non-syndromic Leber congenital amaurosis 10 (LCA10) and syndromic diseases, where the retina is also affected. While RNA antisense oligonucleotides and gene editing are potential treatment options for the common deep intronic variant c.2991+1655A>G in CEP290, there is a need for variant-independent approaches that could be applied to a broader spectrum of ciliopathies. Here, we generated several distinct human models of CEP290-related retinal disease and investigated the effects of the flavonoid eupatilin as a potential treatment. Eupatilin improved cilium formation and length in CEP290 LCA10 patient-derived fibroblasts, in gene-edited CEP290 knockout (CEP290 KO) RPE1 cells, and in both CEP290 LCA10 and CEP290 KO iPSCs-derived retinal organoids. Furthermore, eupatilin reduced rhodopsin retention in the outer nuclear layer of CEP290 LCA10 retinal organoids. Eupatilin altered gene transcription in retinal organoids by modulating the expression of rhodopsin and by targeting cilia and synaptic plasticity pathways. This work sheds light on the mechanism of action of eupatilin and supports its potential as a variant-independent approach for CEP290-associated ciliopathies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Complex Role of Cilium-Generated Signaling)
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