Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Subscribe

Logo for

Science 325 (5944): 1131-1134

Copyright © 2009 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Motile Cilia of Human Airway Epithelia Are Chemosensory

Alok S. Shah,1,* Yehuda Ben-Shahar,1,2,*,{dagger} Thomas O. Moninger,1 Joel N. Kline,1 Michael J. Welsh1,2,3,{ddagger}

Abstract: Cilia are microscopic projections that extend from eukaryotic cells. There are two general types of cilia; primary cilia serve as sensory organelles, whereas motile cilia exert mechanical force. The motile cilia emerging from human airway epithelial cells propel harmful inhaled material out of the lung. We found that these cells express sensory bitter taste receptors, which localized on motile cilia. Bitter compounds increased the intracellular calcium ion concentration and stimulated ciliary beat frequency. Thus, airway epithelia contain a cell-autonomous system in which motile cilia both sense noxious substances entering airways and initiate a defensive mechanical mechanism to eliminate the offending compound. Hence, like primary cilia, classical motile cilia also contain sensors to detect the external environment.

1 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
2 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
3 Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} Present address: Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.

{ddagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: michael-welsh{at}uiowa.edu

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Taste perception: from the tongue to the testis.
F. Li (2013)
Mol. Hum. Reprod. 19, 349-360
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Chemosensors in the Nose: Guardians of the Airways.
M. Tizzano and T. E. Finger (2013)
Physiology 28, 51-60
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Functional characterization of bitter-taste receptors expressed in mammalian testis.
J. Xu, J. Cao, N. Iguchi, D. Riethmacher, and L. Huang (2013)
Mol. Hum. Reprod. 19, 17-28
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Regulator of G-protein Signaling-21 (RGS21) Is an Inhibitor of Bitter Gustatory Signaling Found in Lingual and Airway Epithelia.
S. P. Cohen, B. K. Buckley, M. Kosloff, A. L. Garland, D. E. Bosch, G. Cheng Jr, H. Radhakrishna, M. D. Brown, F. S. Willard, V. Y. Arshavsky, et al. (2012)
J. Biol. Chem. 287, 41706-41719
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Extraoral bitter taste receptors as mediators of off-target drug effects.
A. A. Clark, S. B. Liggett, and S. D. Munger (2012)
FASEB J 26, 4827-4831
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The bitter taste receptor (TAS2R) agonists denatonium and chloroquine display distinct patterns of relaxation of the guinea pig trachea.
V. Pulkkinen, M. L. Manson, J. Safholm, M. Adner, and S.-E. Dahlen (2012)
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 303, L956-L966
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
TAS2R activation promotes airway smooth muscle relaxation despite {beta}2-adrenergic receptor tachyphylaxis.
S. S. An, W. C. H. Wang, C. J. Koziol-White, K. Ahn, D. Y. Lee, R. C. Kurten, R. A. Panettieri Jr., and S. B. Liggett (2012)
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 303, L304-L311
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The future of ciliary and flagellar membrane research.
R. A. Bloodgood (2012)
Mol. Biol. Cell 23, 2407-2411
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Depletion of bitter taste transduction leads to massive spermatid loss in transgenic mice.
F. Li and M. Zhou (2012)
Mol. Hum. Reprod. 18, 289-297
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Congenital heart disease and the specification of left-right asymmetry.
R. J. B. Francis, A. Christopher, W. A. Devine, L. Ostrowski, and C. Lo (2012)
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 302, H2102-H2111
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evolution of Functionally Diverse Alleles Associated with PTC Bitter Taste Sensitivity in Africa.
M. C. Campbell, A. Ranciaro, A. Froment, J. Hirbo, S. Omar, J.-M. Bodo, T. Nyambo, G. Lema, D. Zinshteyn, D. Drayna, et al. (2012)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 29, 1141-1153
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Chemesthesis and the Chemical Senses as Components of a "Chemofensor Complex".
B. G. Green (2012)
Chem Senses 37, 201-206
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sweet taste receptor signaling in beta cells mediates fructose-induced potentiation of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion.
G. A. Kyriazis, M. M. Soundarapandian, and B. Tyrberg (2012)
PNAS 109, E524-E532
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A role for two-pore K+ channels in modulating Na+ absorption and Cl- secretion in normal human bronchial epithelial cells.
K.-Q. Zhao, G. Xiong, M. Wilber, N. A. Cohen, and J. L. Kreindler (2012)
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 302, L4-L12
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Spectrum of Clinical Diseases Caused By Disorders of Primary Cilia.
S. M. Ware, M. G.- Aygun, and F. Hildebrandt (2011)
8, 444-450
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cholinergic microvillous cells in the mouse main olfactory epithelium and effect of acetylcholine on olfactory sensory neurons and supporting cells.
T. Ogura, S. A. Szebenyi, K. Krosnowski, A. Sathyanesan, J. Jackson, and W. Lin (2011)
J Neurophysiol 106, 1274-1287
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Genomic, genetic and functional dissection of bitter taste responses to artificial sweeteners.
N. Roudnitzky, B. Bufe, S. Thalmann, C. Kuhn, H. C. Gunn, C. Xing, B. P. Crider, M. Behrens, W. Meyerhof, and S. P. Wooding (2011)
Hum. Mol. Genet. 20, 3437-3449
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Context-Dependent Differentiation of Multipotential Keratin 14-Expressing Tracheal Basal Cells.
M. Ghosh, H. M. Brechbuhl, R. W. Smith, B. Li, D. A. Hicks, T. Titchner, C. M. Runkle, and S. D. Reynolds (2011)
45, 403-410
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cholinergic chemosensory cells in the trachea regulate breathing.
G. Krasteva, B. J. Canning, P. Hartmann, T. Z. Veres, T. Papadakis, C. Muhlfeld, K. Schliecker, Y. N. Tallini, A. Braun, H. Hackstein, et al. (2011)
PNAS 108, 9478-9483
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Pkd1l1 complexes with Pkd2 on motile cilia and functions to establish the left-right axis.
K. Kamura, D. Kobayashi, Y. Uehara, S. Koshida, N. Iijima, A. Kudo, T. Yokoyama, and H. Takeda (2011)
Development 138, 1121-1129
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Strange as it may seem: the many links between Wnt signaling, planar cell polarity, and cilia.
J. B. Wallingford and B. Mitchell (2011)
Genes & Dev. 25, 201-213
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Apolipoprotein E Negatively Regulates House Dust Mite-induced Asthma via a Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor-mediated Pathway.
X. Yao, K. Fredriksson, Z.-X. Yu, X. Xu, N. Raghavachari, K. J. Keeran, G. J. Zywicke, M. Kwak, M. J. A. Amar, A. T. Remaley, et al. (2010)
182, 1228-1238
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The perception of quinine taste intensity is associated with common genetic variants in a bitter receptor cluster on chromosome 12.
D. R. Reed, G. Zhu, P. A. S. Breslin, F. F. Duke, A. K. Henders, M. J. Campbell, G. W. Montgomery, S. E. Medland, N. G. Martin, and M. J. Wright (2010)
Hum. Mol. Genet. 19, 4278-4285
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
An Outer Arm Dynein Conformational Switch Is Required for Metachronal Synchrony of Motile Cilia in Planaria.
P. Rompolas, R. S. Patel-King, and S. M. King (2010)
Mol. Biol. Cell 21, 3669-3679
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The zebrafish foxj1a transcription factor regulates cilia function in response to injury and epithelial stretch.
N. E. Hellman, Y. Liu, E. Merkel, C. Austin, S. Le Corre, D. R. Beier, Z. Sun, N. Sharma, B. K. Yoder, and I. A. Drummond (2010)
PNAS 107, 18499-18504
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biomimetic cilia arrays generate simultaneous pumping and mixing regimes.
A. R. Shields, B. L. Fiser, B. A. Evans, M. R. Falvo, S. Washburn, and R. Superfine (2010)
PNAS 107, 15670-15675
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Beyond 9+0: noncanonical axoneme structures characterize sensory cilia from protists to humans.
E. Gluenz, J. L. Hoog, A. E. Smith, H. R. Dawe, M. K. Shaw, and K. Gull (2010)
FASEB J 24, 3117-3121
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
CSPP Is a Ciliary Protein Interacting with Nephrocystin 8 and Required for Cilia Formation.
S. Patzke, S. Redick, A. Warsame, C. A. Murga-Zamalloa, H. Khanna, S. Doxsey, and T. Stokke (2010)
Mol. Biol. Cell 21, 2555-2567
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evolution of a Bitter Taste Receptor Gene Cluster in a New World Sparrow.
J. K. Davis, J. J. Lowman, P. J. Thomas, B. F. H. ten Hallers, M. Koriabine, L. Y. Huynh, D. L. Maney, P. J. de Jong, C. L. Martin, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, et al. (2010)
Genome Biol Evol 2, 358-370
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sensory Detection and Responses to Toxic Gases: Mechanisms, Health Effects, and Countermeasures.
B. F. Bessac and S.-E. Jordt (2010)
7, 269-277
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The fluid dynamics of canine olfaction: unique nasal airflow patterns as an explanation of macrosmia.
B. A. Craven, E. G. Paterson, and G. S. Settles (2010)
J R Soc Interface 7, 933-943
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Hearing in Drosophila Requires TilB, a Conserved Protein Associated With Ciliary Motility.
R. G. Kavlie, M. J. Kernan, and D. F. Eberl (2010)
Genetics 185, 177-188
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sensorium: The Original Raison D'etre of the Motile Cilium?.
L. M. Quarmby and M. R. Leroux (2010)
J Mol Cell Biol 2, 65-67
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nasal chemosensory cells use bitter taste signaling to detect irritants and bacterial signals.
M. Tizzano, B. D. Gulbransen, A. Vandenbeuch, T. R. Clapp, J. P. Herman, H. M. Sibhatu, M. E. A. Churchill, W. L. Silver, S. C. Kinnamon, and T. E. Finger (2010)
PNAS 107, 3210-3215
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sensory reception is an attribute of both primary cilia and motile cilia.
R. A. Bloodgood (2010)
J. Cell Sci. 123, 505-509
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Molecular mechanisms of protein and lipid targeting to ciliary membranes.
B. T. Emmer, D. Maric, and D. M. Engman (2010)
J. Cell Sci. 123, 529-536
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
2009: Signaling Breakthroughs of the Year.
E. M. Adler (2010)
Science Signaling 3, eg1
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Using Taste to Clear the Air(ways).
S. C. Kinnamon and S. D. Reynolds (2009)
Science 325, 1081-1082
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882