CHARACTERIZATION OF NOVEL CILIARY GENE TMEM145

Abstract

Cilia and flagella are highly conserved, microtubule based cellular structures which are found in most of the organisms. They have variety of functions from enabling movement in protozoa to signal transduction in multi cellular organisms. Defects in the structure or the function of cilia in human cause a broad range of diseases called ciliopathies. These defects in cilia are caused by mutations on ciliary genes and some non-ciliary genes that affect function of cilia. Therefore, there is a constant need for new ciliary genes to be identified which may help reveal the molecular basis of ciliopathies. We have identified C15A7.2, a GPCR protein in Caenorhabditis elegans as a ciliary gene which is an ortholog of human TMEM145 gene. We have investigated the function of C15A7.2 encoding protein TMEM-145 and found decrease in the speed of intraflagellar transport system in C15A7.2 mutant. We have not observed any structural defect in neither single nor various double mutants, implying that TMEM-145 is not required for ciliogenesis. Having localized exclusively in cilia, TMEM-145 is required to be further investigated.