Odf2-deficient mother centrioles lack distal/subdistal appendages and the ability to generate primary cilia

Outer dense fibre 2 (Odf2; also known as cenexin) was initially identified as a main component of the sperm tail cytoskeleton, but was later shown to be a general scaffold protein that is specifically localized at the distal/subdistal appendages of mother centrioles. Here we show that Odf2 expression is suppressed in mouse F9 cells when both alleles of Odf2 genes are deleted. Unexpectedly, the cell cycle of Odf2^-/- cells does not seem to be affected. Immunofluorescence and ultrathin-section electron microscopy reveals that in Odf2^-/- cells, distal/subdistal appendages disappear from mother centrioles, making it difficult to distinguish mother from daughter centrioles. In Odf2^-/- cells, however, the formation of primary cilia is completely suppressed, although ∼25% of wild-type F9 cells are ciliated under the steady-state cell cycle. The loss of primary cilia in Odf2^-/- F9 cells can be rescued by exogenous Odf2 expression. These findings indicate that Odf2 is indispensable for the formation of distal/subdistal appendages and the generation of primary cilia, but not for other cell-cycle-related centriolar functions.