Question

The cilia and flagella arise from

• A. Basal bodies
• B. Basal granules
• C. Blepharoplasts
• D. All of the above

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

All of the above

A basal body (synonymous with basal granule, kinetosome and in older cytological literature with blepharoplast) is an organelle formed from a centriole, and a short cylindrical array of microtubules. It is found at the base of a eukaryotic undulipodium (cilium or flagellum) and 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 within centrosomes, and are known as the microtubule organizing center (MTOC).