Flagella and CiliaJohn Kim

Jonathan Timothy Adi

What are Flagella and Cilia?

Flagella and Cilia are the locomotion appendages of unicellular Eukaryotes. Basically they are the limbs of cells!

They can act like legs, moving from place to place.

Flagella Cilia

They can also act like hands, when they are part of an immotile tissue.

How to differentiate between Cilia and Flagella?

Cilia are large in numbers per cell

Flagella are few in numbers per cell

Banana

! Banana!

Only 2 of us?No Banana? :(

Cilia move like an oar, there are power and recovery strokes

Flagella move continuously like a fish tail

Immotile Cilium can also act as an Antenna. These Cilia are crucial to brain function and embryonic development.

Structure of Cilia and FlagellaThey are made up of 2 different parts. The motile Cilium, upper part; and the basal body, the lower half.

Cilium

Basal body

Structure of Cilia and FlagellaThe cross section shows microtubules arranged in “9+2” in the upper half and “9+0” in basal body.

This comprises one of the “9” outer triplets in a basal body

This makes up the “0”. Thus forming “9+0”.

Structure of Cilia and FlagellaIn between these outer doublets exists Dynein proteins.They allow movements by changing the shape of the protein using ATP.

*Phew* glad that’s over with…

Thanks, that is all.

Referenceswww.cool-backgrounds.org (Background)biology.unm.edu (Giardia, [Flagella])news.discovery.com (Sperm, [Flagella])currentsinbiology.tumblr.com (Cilia1)academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu (Cilia2)www.bio.davidson.edu (Cilia in Trachea)www.philipvickersfithian.com (Body Surfing)www.livescience.com (Hands Up)www.photoree.com (Rocker)villains.wikia.com (Minions from Despicable Me)www.designbolts.com (2 Minions from Despicable Me)www.bassvisuals.com (Jelly Fish)www.cutestpaw.com (Cute Fish)www.quickmeme.com (Sheep with Alpacas)www5.pbrc.hawaii.edu (Longitudinal Section of Cilium)scienceblogs.com (Textbook Pic)commons.wikimedia.org (Cross Section of Cilia)georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov (President Bush Thumbs up)www.telegraph.co.uk (President Bush Puffing)