TY - JOUR T1 - The ERK activator, BCI, inhibits ciliogenesis and causes defects in motor behavior, ciliary gating, and cytoskeletal rearrangement JF - Life Science Alliance JO - Life Sci. Alliance DO - 10.26508/lsa.202301899 VL - 6 IS - 6 SP - e202301899 AU - Larissa L Dougherty AU - Soumita Dutta AU - Prachee Avasthi Y1 - 2023/06/01 UR - https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/6/6/e202301899.abstract N2 - MAPK pathways are well-known regulators of the cell cycle, but they have also been found to control ciliary length in a wide variety of organisms and cell types from Caenorhabditis elegans neurons to mammalian photoreceptors through unknown mechanisms. ERK1/2 is a MAP kinase in human cells that is predominantly phosphorylated by MEK1/2 and dephosphorylated by the phosphatase DUSP6. We have found that the ERK1/2 activator/DUSP6 inhibitor, (E)-2-benzylidene-3-(cyclohexylamino)-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-one (BCI), inhibits ciliary maintenance in Chlamydomonas and hTERT-RPE1 cells and assembly in Chlamydomonas. These effects involve inhibition of total protein synthesis, microtubule organization, membrane trafficking, and KAP-GFP motor dynamics. Our data provide evidence for various avenues for BCI-induced ciliary shortening and impaired ciliogenesis that gives mechanistic insight into how MAP kinases can regulate ciliary length. ER -