Cutting off ciliary protein import: intraflagellar transport after dendritic femtosecond-laser ablation.

Primary cilia, organelles protruding from the surface of eukaryotic cells, act as cellular antennae to detect and transmit signals from the extracellular environment. They are built and maintained by continuous cycles of intraflagellar transport (IFT), where ciliary proteins are transported between the ciliary base and tip. These proteins originate from the cell body because cilia lack protein synthesis machinery.