AUTHOR=Jacinto Raquel , Sampaio Pedro , Roxo-Rosa Mónica , Pestana Sara , Lopes Susana S. 

TITLE=Pkd2 Affects Cilia Length and Impacts LR Flow Dynamics and Dand5

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2021.624531

DOI=10.3389/fcell.2021.624531

ISSN=2296-634X

ABSTRACT=<p>The left-right (LR) field recognizes the importance of the mechanism involving the calcium permeable channel Polycystin-2. However, whether the early LR symmetry breaking mechanism is exclusively <italic>via</italic> Polycystin-2 has not been tested. For that purpose, we need to be able to isolate the effects of decreasing the levels of Pkd2 protein from any eventual effects on flow dynamics. Here we demonstrate that <italic>curly-up</italic> (<italic>cup</italic>) homozygous mutants have abnormal flow dynamics. In addition, we performed one cell stage Pkd2 knockdowns and LR organizer specific Pkd2 knockdowns and observed that both techniques resulted in shorter cilia length and abnormal flow dynamics. We conclude that Pkd2 reduction leads to LR defects that cannot be assigned exclusively to its putative role in mediating mechanosensation because indirectly, by modifying cell shape or decreasing cilia length, Pkd2 deficit affects LR flow dynamics.</p>