Creating Curves

Look at yourself head-on in the mirror. Is your spine straight or curved? In idiopathic scoliosis (IS), the spine curves sideways. Researchers investigate how this develops using zebrafish with genetically mutated ccdc57 protein. MicroCT revealed ccdc57 mutants had scoliosis (pictured, bottom) compared with normal zebrafish (top), and accumulated fluid in their brains due to disrupted movement of cell projections called cilia on ependymal cells, which line brain cavities. Ccdc57 is found at the base of cilia and controls the top-to-bottom identity (polarity) of ependymal cells. Fluorescence microscopy revealed that defects in ependymal cell polarity in developing mutants occurred simultaneously with scoliosis. Mutant spinal cords also showed abnormal distribution of urotensin, a hormone involved in body axis development. Human IS patients similarly showed abnormal urotensin signalling in their spinal muscles, detected through RNA analysis of muscle samples. Ependymal cell polarity defects and urotensin signalling are, therefore, key processes in scoliosis.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Image from work by Haibo Xie and Yunsi Kang, and colleagues
• Institute of Evolution & Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS Biology, March 2023