Related papers: A steering mechanism for phototaxis in Chlamydomon…
Phototaxis is an important reaction to light displayed by a wide range of motile microorganisms. Flagellated eukaryotic microalgae in particular, like the model organism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, steer either towards or away from light by…
Phototaxis of many species of green algae relies upon directional sensitivity of their membrane-bound photoreceptors, which arises from the presence of a pigmented "eyespot" behind them that blocks light passing through the cell body from…
Understanding how microorganisms navigate in complex environments is a central question in active matter and biological physics. Phototaxis - the ability to use light as a navigation cue - is a widespread strategy in motile microalgae to…
A fundamental issue in biology is the nature of evolutionary transitions from unicellular to multicellular organisms. Volvocine algae are models for this transition, as they span from the unicellular biflagellate Chlamydomonas to…
We study how simple eukaryotic organisms make decisions in response to competing stimuli in the context of phototaxis by the unicellular alga $Chlamydomonas~reinhardtii$. While negatively phototactic cells swim directly away from a…
Phototaxis, the process by which living organisms navigate toward optimal light conditions, is essential for motile photosynthetic microorganisms. Positive(negative) phototaxis denotes the motion directed towards(away from) the source of…
Green algae of the $Volvocine$ lineage, spanning from unicellular $Chlamydomonas$ to vastly larger $Volvox$, are models for the study of the evolution of multicellularity, flagellar dynamics, and developmental processes. Phototactic…
Phototaxis is one of the most fundamental stimulus-response behaviors in biology wherein motile micro-organisms sense light gradients to swim towards the light source. Apart from single cell survival and growth, it plays a major role at the…
Numerous cell-types have shown a remarkable ability to detect and move along gradients in stiffness of an underlying substrate -- a process known as durotaxis. The mechanisms underlying durotaxis are still unresolved, but generally believed…
Phototaxis is the movement of microorganisms towards or away from light. In presence of dim (intense) light, microorganisms move towards (away from) the light sources, which is known as positive (negative) phototaxis. In this study, we…
We study optical solitons in chirped periodic optical lattices whose amplitude or frequency changes in the transverse direction. We discover that soliton propagation in such lattices can be accompanied by the progressive self-bending of the…
Many microorganisms, with phytoplankton and zooplankton as prominent examples, display phototactic behaviour, that is, the ability to perform directed motion within a light gradient. Here we experimentally demonstrate that sensing of light…
A simple model is studied for the chemotactic movement of biological cells in the presence of a periodic chemical wave. It incorporates the feature of adaptation that may play an important role in allowing for ``rectified" chemotaxis:…
Microbial colonization of surfaces represents the first step towards biofilm formation, which is a recurring phenomenon in nature with beneficial and detrimental implications in technological and medical settings. Consequently, there is a…
Plants have developed intricate mechanisms to adapt to changing light conditions. Besides photo- and helio- tropism -- the differential growth towards light and the diurnal motion with respect to sunlight -- chloroplast motion acts as a…
As for many motile micro-algae, the freshwater species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii can detect light sources and adapt its motile behavior in response. Here, we show that suspensions of photophobic cells can be unstable to density…
Active fluids refer to the fluids that contain self-propelled particles such as bacteria or micro-algae, whose properties differ fundamentally from the passive fluids. Such particles often exhibit an intermittent motion, with high-motility…
Rapid and low-power control over the direction of a radiating light field is a major challenge in photonics and a key enabling technology for emerging sensors and free-space communication links. Current approaches based on bulky motorized…
Smarticles, or smart active particles, are small robots equipped with only basic movement and sensing abilities that are incapable of rotating or displacing individually. We study the ensemble behavior of smarticles, i.e., the behavior a…
Microorganismal motility is often characterised by complex responses to environmental physico-chemical stimuli. Although the biological basis of these responses is often not well understood, their exploitation already promises novel avenues…