Handling Editor: David Stephens
ABSTRACT
Ciliogenesis is a coordinated process initiated by the recruitment and fusion of pre-ciliary vesicles at the distal appendages of the mother centriole through mechanisms that remain unclear. Here, we report that EFA6A (also known as PSD), an exchange factor for the small G protein Arf6, is involved in early stage of ciliogenesis by promoting the fusion of distal appendage vesicles forming the ciliary vesicle. EFA6A is present in the vicinity of the mother centriole before primary cilium assembly and prior to the arrival of Arl13B-containing vesicles. During ciliogenesis, EFA6A initially accumulates at the mother centriole and later colocalizes with Arl13B along the ciliary membrane. EFA6A depletion leads to the inhibition of ciliogenesis, the absence of centrosomal Rab8-positive structures and the accumulation of Arl13B-positive vesicles around the distal appendages. Our results uncover a novel fusion machinery, comprising EFA6A, Arf6 and Arl13B, that controls the coordinated fusion of ciliary vesicles docked at the distal appendages of the mother centriole.
Footnotes
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing or financial interests.
Author contributions
Conceptualization: R.G., A.B., F.L., M.F.; Methodology: S.A., E.M., F.B.; Software: S.A., F.B.; Validation: M.P., C.L.B., R.F., S.P., S.L.-G., M.F.; Formal analysis: E.M.; Investigation: M.P., C.L.B., R.G., R.F., S.P., E.M., S.L.-G., M.F.; Resources: M.P., C.L.B., R.F.; Data curation: S.A.; Writing - original draft: A.B., F.L., M.F.; Writing - review & editing: M.F.; Supervision: S.L.-G., F.L.; M.F.; Project administration: M.F.; Funding acquisition: F.L., M.F.
Funding
This work is supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Association pour la Recherche contre le Cancer and the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (ANR) through the Investissement pour le Futur Labex Signalife Program ref ANR-11Labx-0028-01. This work is also supported by State funding from the ANR under the ‘Investissements d'avenir’ program (ANR-10-IAHU-01).
Supplementary information
Supplementary information available online at https://jcs.biologists.org/lookup/doi/10.1242/jcs.249565.supplemental
- Received May 28, 2020.
- Accepted November 20, 2020.
- © 2021. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
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