Chiral Cilia Orientation in the Left-Right Organizer
Rita R. Ferreira,
Guillaume Pakula,
Lhéanna Klaeyle,
Hajime Fukui,
Andrej Vilfan,
Willy Supatto,
Julien Vermot
Affiliations
Rita R. Ferreira
Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Illkirch, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR7104, Illkirch, France; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U1258, 67404 Illkirch, France; Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
Guillaume Pakula
Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences, Ecole Polytechnique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR7645), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (U1182), Palaiseau, France
Lhéanna Klaeyle
Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Illkirch, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR7104, Illkirch, France; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U1258, 67404 Illkirch, France; Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
Hajime Fukui
Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Illkirch, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR7104, Illkirch, France; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U1258, 67404 Illkirch, France; Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
Andrej Vilfan
J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS), 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Willy Supatto
Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences, Ecole Polytechnique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR7645), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (U1182), Palaiseau, France
Julien Vermot
Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Illkirch, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR7104, Illkirch, France; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U1258, 67404 Illkirch, France; Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France; Corresponding author
Summary: Chirality is a property of asymmetry between an object and its mirror image. Most biomolecules and many cell types are chiral. In the left-right organizer (LRO), cilia-driven flows transfer such chirality to the body scale. However, the existence of cellular chirality within tissues remains unknown. Here, we investigate this question in Kupffer’s vesicle (KV), the zebrafish LRO. Quantitative live imaging reveals that cilia populating the KV display asymmetric orientation between the right and left sides, resulting in a chiral structure, which is different from the chiral cilia rotation. This KV chirality establishment is dynamic and depends on planar cell polarity. While its impact on left-right (LR) symmetry breaking remains unclear, we show that this asymmetry does not depend on the LR signaling pathway or flow. This work identifies a different type of tissue asymmetry and sheds light on chirality genesis in developing tissues. : During left-right axis specification, motile cilia are required for breaking the axis of symmetry. In this context, Ferreira et al. show that cilia orientation is chiral, defining an alternative type of asymmetry in the embryo. Keywords: Danio rerio, trilobite/Vangl2, lrdr1, Dnaaf1/Lrrc50, spaw, nodal, tissue asymmetry, PKD2/PC2/TRPP2/polycistin-2, blebbistatin, Rock2B
