Mouse neurons (in red, nuclei in blue) in the hypothalamus and their primary cilia (green)YI WANG, PHD, FROM THE VAISSE LABMost mammalian cells have a primary cilium, an antenna-like, immobile surface projection that senses the surrounding environment. Researchers report in Nature Genetics today (January 8) that proteins localized to the cilia of neurons in the hypothalamus control food intake in mice. Furthermore, two human genetics studies published in Nature Genetics today tie variants of a neuronal ciliary gene, adenylyl cyclase 3 (ADCY3), identified in people from Pakistan, Greenland, and the United States, to an increased risk of obesity and diabetes.
“This [mouse] paper contributes nicely to a consensus that cilia are important in the brain for energy homeostasis and feeding behaviors,” says Nick Berbari, a biologist at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis who did not participate in the study. “It’s interesting to think about how cilia function could be important for the general population, [not] just in rare instances of ciliopathies,” he adds.
Ciliopathies—rare diseases caused by mutations in genes that affect the primary cilia—can produce a variety of symptoms, including extra fingers or toes, retinal degeneration, and obesity, coauthor Christian Vaisse, a geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco, tells The Scientist. “Relatively recently, it was found that the obesity in ciliopathies was linked to a role of the primary cilium in neurons because ...
