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REVIEW article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Membrane Traffic and Organelle Dynamics
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1574638
This article is part of the Research TopicProtein Trafficking to the Primary Cilium: Molecular Pathways and Clinical ImplicationsView all articles
A Tale of Rabs and the Exocyst complex in ciliary trafficking and biogenesis
Provisionally accepted- 1Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India
- 2Advanced Technology Development Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
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The primary cilium is a microtubule-based sensory cell organelle templated by a modified parent centriole that mediates mechanotransduction and response to biochemical cues such as morphogens to regulate organismal development and homeostasis. Given that the cilium is a specialized microdomain devoid of its translation machinery, it relies on the endomembrane pathway for the delivery of proteins and other biomolecules to it. This review provides a comprehensive insight into how membrane trafficking modulators such as Rab and Rab-like proteins, and the exocyst complex control transport to the primary cilia, in turn regulating various aspects of their assembly and function. We integrate findings from in vitro and animal models and draw on human diseases associated with the dysfunction of Rabs or exocyst that exhibit phenotypes overlapping with those of ciliopathies, which further support their relevance to cilia biogenesis and maintenance.
Keywords: primary cilia, Rabs, Rab-like proteins, exocyst, Ciliary trafficking, ciliopathies
Received: 11 Feb 2025; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Upadhyai, Bose and Quadri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Priyanka Upadhyai, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, 576104, Karnataka, India
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.