Daiju Kitagawa led work explaining the ninefold organization of centrioles through interactions between SAS-6 molecules. The 2011 study combined structural analysis, biochemical assembly and cellular experiments: rod-shaped dimers associated through their ends, and disrupting the relevant association impaired centriole formation.[ref]
Structural basis of the 9-fold symmetry of centrioles by Daiju Kitagawa and others. Summary: SAS-6 oligomerization and centriole formation
A model built from the related Chlamydomonas reinhardtii protein placed nine dimers in a ring with spokes extending outward. Recombinant protein also formed cartwheel-like assemblies. The work connects a repeated protein structure to the larger geometry of an organelle, rather than treating its symmetry as an unexplained cellular pattern.[ref]
Structural basis of the 9-fold symmetry of centrioles by Daiju Kitagawa and others. Summary and structural model of Bld12p
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