Pitchfork regulates primary cilia disassembly and left-right asymmetry.
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Kinzel D, Boldt K, Davis EE, Burtscher I, Trumbach D, Diplas B, Attie-Bitach T, Wurst W, Katsanis N, Ueffing M, Lickert H
Pitchfork regulates primary cilia disassembly and left-right asymmetry.
Dev Cell. 2010 Jul 20;19(1):66-77. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2010.06.005.
- PubMed ID
- 20643351 [ View in PubMed]
- Abstract
A variety of developmental disorders have been associated with ciliary defects, yet the controls that govern cilia disassembly are largely unknown. Here we report a mouse embryonic node gene, which we named Pitchfork (Pifo). Pifo associates with ciliary targeting complexes and accumulates at the basal body during cilia disassembly. Haploinsufficiency causes a unique node cilia duplication phenotype, left-right asymmetry defects, and heart failure. This phenotype is likely relevant in humans, because we identified a heterozygous R80K PIFO mutation in a fetus with situs inversus and cystic liver and kidneys, and in patient with double-outflow right ventricle. We show that PIFO, but not R80K PIFO, is sufficient to activate Aurora A, a protooncogenic kinase that induces cilia retraction, and that Pifo/PIFO mutation causes cilia retraction, basal body liberation, and overreplication defects. Thus, the observation of a disassembly phenotype in vivo provides an entry point to understand and categorize ciliary disease. AUTHOR AUDIO: