Ultrastructural and biochemical analysis of a new mutation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii affecting the central pair apparatus.

We present a new Chlamydomonas reinhardtii flagellar mutant in which central pair projections are missing and the central pair microtubules are twisted along the length of the flagellum. We have named this mutant tcp1 for twisted central pair. Immunoblots using an antibody that recognizes the heavy chain of sea urchin kinesin reveal that a 70 kDa protein present in wild-type and pf18 (central pairless) axonemes is absent in tcp1, suggesting the presence of an uncharacterized kinesin associated with the central pair apparatus. We demonstrate that the kinesin-like protein Klp1 is not attached to central pair microtubules in tcp1, but rather is located in, or is part of, a region we have termed the internal axonemal matrix. It is proposed that this matrix acts as a scaffold for axonemal proteins that may also be associated with the central pair apparatus.