Cilia born out of shock and stress

EMBO J (2013) 32 23, 3029–3040 10.1038/emboj.2013.223; published online October112013

Primary cilia are cell surface sensory organelles, whose dysfunction underlies various human genetic diseases collectively termed ciliopathies. A new study in The EMBO Journal by Villumsen et al now reveals how stress–response pathways converge to stimulate ciliogenesis by modulating protein composition of centriolar satellites. Better understanding of these mechanisms should bring us closer to identifying the cellular defects that underlie ciliopathies caused by mutations in centriolar satellite proteins.