In zebrafish inner ear, hair cell orientation in anterior and posterior maculae of the embryonic otic vesicle is different (about 30-40 degrees): this is rather unusual in planar polarity mechanism of action, instead suggests that kinocilia may be rotationally polarized. In mice node, the innermost monociliated cells generate a left-ward fluid flow sensed by the immotile primary cilia of Left peri-nodal cells: the Nodal signaling pathway is then expressed asymmetrically, in the Left lateral plate mesoderm, breaking symmetry in visceral organs (situs solitus); however, Right peri-nodal cells also, if artificially excited by a right-ward flow, break symmetry and activate the Nodal cascade, though inverting visceral organ asymmetry (situs inversus); surprisingly, peri-nodal cells prove to be adept at distinguishing flow directionality. Recently, in the Kupffer vesicle (the zebrafish laterality organ), chiral primary cilia orientation has been described: primary cilia, in the left and right side, are symmetrically oriented, showing a mirror average divergence of about 15-20 degrees from the midline. This finding, taken together with the mirror behavior of mouse perinodal cells and zebrafish hair cells, champions the idea of primary cilia enantiomerism.
Loss of Abdominal Muscle in Pitx2 Mutants Associated with Altered Axial Specification of Lateral Plate Mesoderm