Drosophila KAP interacts with the Kinesin II motor subunit KLP64D to assemble chordotonal sensory cilia, but not sperm tails

Background: Kinesin II-mediated anterograde intratlagellar transport (IFT) is essential for the assembly and maintenance of flagella and cilia in various cell types' Kinesin associated protein (KAP) is identified as the non-motor accessory subunit of Kinesin 11, but its role in the corresponding motor function is not understood. Results: We show that mutations in the Drosophila KAP (DmKap) gene could eliminate the sensory cilia as well as the sound-evoked potentials of Johnston's organ (JO) neurons. Ultrastructure analysis of these mutants revealed that the ciliary axonemes are absent. Mutations in Klp64D, which codes for a Kinesin 11 motor subunit in Drosophila, show similar ciliary defects. All these defects are rescued by exclusive expression of DmKAP and KLP64D/KIF3A in the JO neurons of respective mutants. Furthermore, reduced copy number of the DmKap gene was found to enhance the defects of hypomorphic Klp64D alleles. Unexpectedly, however, both the DmKap and the Klp64D mutant adults produce vigorously motile sperm with normal axonemes. Conclusions: KAP plays an essential role in Kinesin 11 function, which is required for the axoneme growth and maintenance of the cilia in Drosophila type I sensory neurons. However, the flagellar assembly in Drosophila spermatids does not require Kinesin 11 and is independent of. IFT.