Basal body

This article is about the basal body of eukaryotic flagellum. For structure at the base of bacterial flagellum, see Flagellum ยง Bacterial.

A basal body, basal granule, or kinetosome, and in older literature blepharoplast, is a protein complex structure found at the base of a cilium or a eukaryotic flagellum. The basal body was named by Theodor Wilhelm Engelmann in 1880. It is formed from a centriole and several additional protein structures, and is, essentially, a modified centriole. The basal body serves as a nucleation site for the growth of the axoneme microtubules. Centrioles, from which basal bodies are derived, act as anchoring sites for proteins that in turn anchor microtubules, and are known as the microtubule organizing center (MTOC). These microtubules provide structure and facilitate movement of vesicles and other organelles within many eukaryotic cells.

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