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Editorial
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Richard T. O’Grady
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Timothy M. Beardsley
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James M. Verdier
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­Nilsson, Ben Pierce, Jason Podrabsky, J. Michael Scott,
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BioScience
®
A Forum for Integrating the Life Sciences
American Institute of Biological Sciences
Unraveling the Complexity of Eukaryotic Cilia and Flagella
A
s scientists, we revel in the complexity of nature and feel satisfaction as we
continually reveal its secrets. We marvel at the structural and functional
complexity of organelles such as eukaryotic cilia and flagella—but not because this
complexity provides any support for the creationist’s arguments about irreducible
complexity and the necessity for a creator. It does not, as has been effectively
demonstrated in numerous examples, such as the Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School
District (Pennsylvania) federal court case, in which Judge John Jones ruled against
the teaching of “intelligent design” in public school biology curricula, and Kenneth
Miller’s book Finding Darwin’s God (Harper). Our fascination is not only with the
complexity but also with the new roles emerging for cilia. These show cilia to be
central players in the lives of cells, exhibiting sensory as well as motile functions
and serving as sites for integrating some of the major signaling systems of the cell.
These recent findings have dramatically raised the visibility and importance of cilia
among cell and developmental biologists, physiologists, and clinical researchers.
Indeed, as we come to appreciate the many functions performed by cilia, we have
more fodder to demolish the anti-intellectual arguments about the complexity of
cilia being a hindrance to their evolution by natural selection. There are a wide
range of microtubule-containing cell surface extensions found among protists,
and they perform multiple functions, such as organelle transport, prey capture and
transport to the cell body, adhesion to substrates, swimming and gliding motility,
and antenna for display of receptors and reception of sensory inputs (including
mechanical, chemical, and light signals). These functions clearly have allowed
natural selection to operate continually on these organelles as they acquired the
structural and biochemical sophistication to perform new and different functions
and became the many remarkable versions of cilia that exist today.
The Special Section in this issue of Bioscience highlights some of the diversity
of research being conducted with cilia and many of the interesting functions
performed by these multitasking organelles. The section begins with an article by
Peter Satir and Winfield Sale, in which they describe the intricate structure of the
axoneme and explain how dynein-driven microtubule sliding is converted into
axonemal bending and force generation. Hiroaki Ishikawa and Wallace Marshall
then introduce us to the many ways in which force can be both produced and
sensed by cilia. Steven Kleene and Judith Van Houten focus our attention on the
ciliary membrane whose electrical properties and ion channels and gates regulate
many of the organelle’s sensory and motile functions. Jonathan Moran, Paul
McKean, and Michael Ginger then take us on a long temporal trip through the
evolution of these remarkable organelles, primarily unraveled by modern molecular
biology. Iben Veland, Louise Lindbæk and Søren Christensen describe the newly
appreciated role of primary cilia in directing cell migration associated with tissue
repair and brain development. Finally, Jason Brown and George Witman provide a
fascinating overview of the rapidly evolving field of ciliopathies. There is much for
any biologist to enjoy in this cornucopia of ciliary and flagellar knowledge.
EDNA S. KANESHIRO
University of Cincinnati
ROBERT A. BLOODGOOD
University of Virginia
doi:10.1093/biosci/biu203
http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org
December 2014 / Vol. 64 No. 12 • BioScience 1063