Fascinating article by Peter Satir about cilia’s role in development and disease.1 I wonder if improper immune responses like vasculitis might be caused by degradation of the non-motile cilia on the mast cells along the lumen. The known chemical responses to foreign matter in the bloodstream which trigger inflammation through the histamine reaction along with leukocyte activity might be intimately linked to the sensing ability (or lack thereof) of these non-motile microtubules. They may exist in greater numbers and play a more important signaling role on smooth muscle cells than previously thought.
Anthony Gelbert
Air traffic controller (ret.)
Colchester, VT
agelbert@msn.com
Thank you for an interesting article. I have long puzzled about the origins of eukaryote motility—even before Lynn Margulis proposed that cilia evolved independently as spirochaete bacteria. To me then (and now) this was highly implausible, and I support the idea that cilia and their basal bodies evolved endogenously ...
