Chapter title |
Cilia
|
---|---|
Chapter number | 16 |
Book title |
Cilia
|
Published in |
Methods in molecular biology, January 2016
|
DOI | 10.1007/978-1-4939-3789-9_16 |
Pubmed ID | |
Book ISBNs |
978-1-4939-3787-5, 978-1-4939-3789-9
|
Authors |
King, Stephen M, Patel-King, Ramila S, Stephen M. King, Ramila S. Patel-King, King, Stephen M., Patel-King, Ramila S. |
Abstract |
Planarian flatworms are carnivorous invertebrates with astounding regenerative properties. They have a ventral surface on which thousands of motile cilia are exposed to the extracellular environment. These beat in a synchronized manner against secreted mucus thereby propelling the animal forward. Similar to the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the planarian Schmidtea mediterranea is easy to maintain in the laboratory and is highly amenable to simple RNAi approaches through feeding with dsRNA. The methods are simple and robust, and the level of gene expression reduction that can be obtained is, in many cases, almost total. Moreover, cilia assembly and function is not essential for viability in this organism, as animals readily survive for weeks even with the apparent total absence of this organelle. Both genome and expressed sequence tag databases are available and allow design of vectors to target any desired gene of choice. Combined, these feature make planaria a useful model system in which to examine ciliary assembly and motility, especially in the context of a ciliated epithelium where many organelles beat in a hydrodynamically coupled synchronized manner. In addition, as planaria secrete mucus against which the cilia beat to generate propulsive force, this system may also prove useful for analysis of mucociliary interactions. In this chapter, we provide simple methods to maintain a planarian colony, knockdown gene expression by RNAi, and analyze the resulting animals for whole organism motility as well as ciliary architecture and function. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 1 | 33% |
Unknown | 2 | 67% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 3 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 20 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Bachelor | 4 | 20% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 4 | 20% |
Professor > Associate Professor | 4 | 20% |
Researcher | 3 | 15% |
Student > Master | 2 | 10% |
Other | 0 | 0% |
Unknown | 3 | 15% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 7 | 35% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 15% |
Neuroscience | 2 | 10% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 1 | 5% |
Unknown | 7 | 35% |