About mtocDB

mtocDB

Centrioles are cylindrical microtubule arrays required for stability and duplication of the centrosome in animal cells, and for the assembly of cilia and flagella in many eukaryotes. The presence of centrioles throughout most eukaryotic branches suggests that this structure was present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor.

Although centrioles show a typically well conserved structure, they can perform several functions and display a diversity of accessory structures. However, this diversity is not properly classified beyond model organisms, and the information contained in decades of electronic microscopy of other organisms remains untapped.

The molecular mechanisms underlying centriole assembly have been studied and characterized for a number of model organisms. Furthermore, recent advances in proteomics combined with the availability of full length genomes for many novel species has allowed the identification of orthologs of these molecular mechanisms.

With mtocDB we aim to characterize the naturally occurring morphological variation observed in centrioles and centriole associated structure alongside molecular information on the proteins involved in their assembly. Examining these in an evolutionary context will allow the cell biology community to infer meaningful relationships between cellular assembly mechanisms and the structures they form.

Participation

If you are interested in participating in this project please e-mail mtocDB@igc.gulbenkian.pt or mdias(at)igc.gulbenkian.pt or jleal(at)igc.gulbenkian.pt.

People involved

• Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Oeiras
  • Marc Gouw
  • Zita Carvalho-Santos
  • Renato Alves
  • Beatriz Ferreira Gomes
  • Filipe Tavares-Cadete
  • Joana Borrego Pinto
  • Neuza Matias
  • Mónica Bettencourt-Dias
  • José B. Pereira-Leal
• University of California San Francisco
  • Juliette Azimzadeh
• University of Oxford, Dunn School of Pathology
  • Keith Gull
• Institut Curie, Paris
  • Michel Bornens