ABILITY OF PARALYZED FLAGELLA MUTANTS OF CHLAMYDOMONAS TO MOVE

Chlamydomonas mutants missing the central pair or radial spokes are pa ralyzed despite the fact that they have the full wild-type complement of functional dynein ATPases. We show here that these mutants can move under conditions of low ATP concentration, a combination of ATP and A DP, and a combination of ATP and ribose-modified ATP analogs. These co nditions suggest an inhibitory role of ATP and that this inhibition ca n be relieved by ADP or analogs. The function of the central-pair/radi al spoke complex may be to release this ATP inhibition in a controlled manner. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.