ArticleThe EMBO journal2021
The multi-scale architecture of mammalian sperm flagella and implications for ciliary motility.
Article in The EMBO journal, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dynamic centrosomes: functional diversity and remodeling across cell types.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2026Review
- Transcriptomic Dynamics and ECM Remodeling During Postnatal Testicular Maturation in the Tianzhu White Yak.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- SPACA9 and MNMIP1 bridge the seam of spermatid manchette microtubules.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Sperm mitochondrial sheath formation - how and why?Nature reviews. Urology · 2026Review
- Molecular architecture of the ciliary base in mammalian multiciliated cells.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- SUN5 forms a regular protein lattice reinforcing the sperm head-tail junction.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Structure first - exploration and discovery with cryo-electron microscopy.Journal of cell science · 2026Review
- The spermatozoon neck role in infertility and intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2026Review
- Centriole Duplication, Maturation, and Transformation During Mammalian Spermatogenesis.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- TRiC Is a Structural Component of Mammalian Sperm Axonemes.Cytoskeleton (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2025Review
- Cryo-EM single-particle analysis expanding towards increasingly native samples.Acta crystallographica. Section D, Structural biology · 2025Review
- A comparison of spermatogenesis between flies and men-conserved processes of male gamete production.Human reproduction update · 2025Review
- Advances in high-resolution imaging of centrioles and cilia.Journal of cell science · 2025Review
- The primary cilium as a multifunctional organelle: emerging roles and unanswered questions.Cell communication and signaling : CCS · 2025Review
- Proximity labeling of axonemal protein CFAP91 identifies EFCAB5 that regulates sperm motility.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Bridging the gap: how sperm's core structure explains male infertility.Cell research · 2025Article
- In situ structure of the mouse sperm central apparatus reveals mechanistic insights into asthenozoospermia.Cell research · 2025Article
- Establishing the causative link between CFAP221 variants and asthenoteratozoospermia in humans.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2025Article
- A network of interacting ciliary tip proteins with opposing activities imparts slow and processive microtubule growth.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2025Article
- Spermatozoa centriole quality determined by FRAC may correlate with zygote nucleoli polarization-a pilot study.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2025Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Motile cilia are molecular machines used by a myriad of eukaryotic cells to swim through fluid environments. However, available molecular structures represent only a handful of cell types, limiting our understanding of how cilia are modified to support motility in diverse media. Here, we use cryo-focused ion beam milling-enabled cryo-electron tomography to image sperm flagella from three mammalian species. We resolve in-cell structures of centrioles, axonemal doublets, central pair apparatus, and endpiece singlets, revealing novel protofilament-bridging microtubule inner proteins throughout the flagellum. We present native structures of the flagellar base, which is crucial for shaping the flagellar beat. We show that outer dense fibers are directly coupled to microtubule doublets in the principal piece but not in the midpiece. Thus, mammalian sperm flagella are ornamented across scales, from protofilament-bracing structures reinforcing microtubules at the nano-scale to accessory structures that impose micron-scale asymmetries on the entire assembly. Our structures provide vital foundations for linking molecular structure to ciliary motility and evolution.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.