Chlamydomonas FAP70 is a component of the previously uncharacterized ciliary central apparatus projection C2a
Cilia are essential organelles required for cell signaling and motility. Nearly all motile cilia have a “9+2” axoneme composed of 9 outer doublet microtubules plus 2 central microtubules; the central microtubules together with their projections is termed the central apparatus (CA). In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a model organism for studying cilia, 30 proteins are known CA components, and ∼36 more are predicted to be CA proteins. Among the candidate CA proteins is the highly conserved FAP70, which also has been reported to be associated with the doublet microtubules. Here we determined by super-resolution structured illumination microscopy that FAP70 is located exclusively in the CA, and show by cryo-electron microscopy that its N-terminus is located at the base of the CA's C2a projection. We also found that fap70-1 mutant axonemes lack most of the C2a projection. Mass spectrometry revealed that fap70-1 axonemes lack not only FAP70 but two other conserved candidate CA proteins, FAP65 and FAP147. Finally, FAP65 and FAP147 co-immunoprecipitated with HA-tagged FAP70. Taken together, these data identify FAP70, FAP65, and FAP147 as the first defining components of the C2a projection.