Two classes of short intraflagellar transport train with different 3D structures are present in Chlamydomonas flagella

Intraflagellar Transport (IFT) is responsible for the bidirectional trafficking of molecular components required for the elongation and maintenance of eukaryotic cilia and flagella. Cargo is transported by IFT “trains”, linear rows of multiprotein particles moved by molecular motors along the axonemal doublets. We previously described two structurally distinct categories of “long” and “short” trains. Here, we analyse the relative number of these trains throughout flagellar regeneration, and show that long trains are most abundant at the beginning of flagellar growth whereas short trains gradually increase in number as flagella elongate. These observations are incompatible with the previous hypothesis that short trains are derived solely from the reorganization of long trains at the flagellar tip. We demonstrate by electron tomography the existence of two distinct ultrastructural organizations for the short trains, we named “narrow” and “wide” and provide the first 3D model of the narrow short trains. These trains are characterized by trilobed units, which repeat longitudinally every 16nm and contact protofilament 7 of the B-tubule. Functional implications of the new structural evidence are discussed.