A motility in the eukaryotic flagellum unrelated to flagellar beating.

TLDR

The authors propose that the observed lollipop‑shaped complexes move along the flagellum, driving the intraflagellar transport. They discovered a dynein‑independent, bidirectional intraflagellar transport of granule‑like particles in Chlamydomonas flagella, distinct from other nonbeat motilities, and visualized lollipop‑shaped structures between microtubules and the membrane.

Abstract

We report a motility in the flagella of the green alga Chlamydomonas that is unrelated to dynein-based flagellar beating. This motility, referred to as intraflagellar transport, was observed as the rapid bidirectional movement of granule-like particles along the length of the flagella. Intraflagellar transport could be experimentally separated from other, previously reported, nonbeat flagellar motilities. EM of flagella showed groups of nonvesicular, lollipop-shaped structures positioned between the outer doublet microtubules and the flagellar membrane. Movement of these complexes along the length of the flagella may be responsible for intraflagellar transport.