Primary cilium: A paradigm for integrating mathematical modeling with experiments and numerical simulations in mechanobiology

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2021

Abstract

Primary cilia are non-motile, solitary (one per cell) microtubule-based organelles that emerge from the mother centriole after cells have exited the mitotic cycle. Identified as a mechanosensing organelle that responds to both mechanical and chemical stimuli, the primary cilium provides a fertile ground for integrative investigations of mathematical modeling, numerical simulations, and experiments. Recent experimental findings revealed considerable complexity to the underlying mechanosensory mechanisms that transmit extracellular stimuli to intracellular signaling many of which include primary cilia. In this invited review, we provide a brief survey of experimental findings on primary cilia and how these results lead to various mathematical models of the mechanics of the primary cilium bent under an external forcing such as a fluid flow or a trap. Mathematical modeling of the primary cilium as a fluid-structure interaction problem highlights the importance of basal anchorage and the anisotropic moduli of the microtubules. As theoretical modeling and numerical simulations progress, along with improved state-of-the-art experiments on primary cilia, we hope that details of ciliary regulated mechano-chemical signaling dynamics in cellular physiology will be understood in the near future.

Identifier

85103433050 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.3934/MBE.2021066

e-ISSN

15510018

ISSN

15471063

PubMed ID

33757184

First Page

1215

Last Page

1237

Issue

2

Volume

18

Grant

1951526

Fund Ref

National Institutes of Health

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS