Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting - June 28-July 1, 2015

New Biological Frontiers Illuminated by Molecular Sensors and Actuators

Tuesday Speaker Abstracts

Sensing and Structure Investigations of Nucleic Acid Systems Using Fluorescent Base Analogue FRET-Probes Marcus Wilhelmsson . Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. See abstract: Pos-47 Board 47

Actuators within Sensors: The Architecture of Primary Cilia Jung-Chi Liao , T T. Yang. Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.

Primary cilia are cellular sensors associated with important signaling pathways including hedgehog signaling and Wnt signaling. Intraflagellar transport is actively regulated to deliver precursors and other molecules in primary cilia. Despite the importance, our knowledge of the ciliary architecture is limited, hindering a structure-based understanding of ciliary functions. Here we reveal the molecular architecture at the base of primary cilia using superresolution microscopy. We found that there are multiple levels of trafficking rests for intraflagellar transport proteins and transmembrane proteins, suggesting the gating regulation at the ciliary base is performed at different resting sites upon the architecture of primary cilia.

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