Close-up on Cilia

Almost every cell in your body has a little antenna sending and receiving chemical and mechanical signals. These thread-like projections are called primary cilia. To better understand the importance of these structures, researchers have tried to identify proteins located on them. However, this has proven challenging as primary cilia overlap with other cell structures such as the cell membrane. Now researchers have developed an effective way to definitively localise primary cilia’s proteins in 3D by combining surface scanning electron microscopy with antibody-based labelling (immuno-SEM). Here, a protein called IFT88 (white dots) – which if mutated can cause serious disorder – is revealed on a cilium on a mouse pancreatic cell. This powerful, high-resolution tool will aid research into primary cilia and ciliopathies – a range of serious diseases caused by cilia dysfunction.

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 Sanja Sviben and colleagues
• Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Journal of Cell Science, May 2024