The Virtues of Self-Flagellation: Forward and Reverse Genetics to Probe the Roles of Motile Cilia in Vertebrate Development and Human Disease

Abstract

Motile cilia are microtubule based cellular projections that are important for the generation of fluid flow and cell propulsion in many tissues in vertebrates. Cilia motility is critically important for mucociliary clearance in the respiratory tract, propulsion of sperm, and for the breaking of the left-right axis in many clades of vertebrates. However, other physiologically important roles for motile cilia in vertebrate development and organ system function are beginning to emerge. In this thesis, I will describe the characterization and mapping of two novel alleles of motile cilia genes, braciole and mew, the generation of several different mutant lines in the critical motile cilia genes daw1, dyx1c1, foxj1a, foxj1b, and kif6, and utilize these lines to probe the functionality of human disease alleles. Importantly, I will also describe the identification of a role for motile cilia in spine morphogenesis to maintain spine linearity; a novel morphogenetic process with important ramifications for understanding the poorly understood etiology of the most common spinal deformity in the world, idiopathic scoliosis. These findings provide several new animal models to understand the consequences of loss of motile cilia function in humans and open multiple avenues of investigation into the morphogenesis of the spine.