Primary cilia are microscopic sensory antennae that cells in many vertebrate tissues use to
gather information about their environment. In the kidney, primary cilia sense urine flow and
are essential for the maintenance of epithelial architecture. Defects of this organelle cause
the cystic kidney disease characterized by epithelial abnormalities. These findings link
primary cilia to the regulation of epithelial differentiation and proliferation, processes that
must be precisely controlled during epithelial repair in the kidney. Here, we consider likely …