Related papers: Nonlinear dynamics and fluctuations in biological …
The unicellular green algae Chlamydomonas swims with two flagella, which can synchronize their beat. Synchronized beating is required to swim both fast and straight. A long-standing hypothesis proposes that synchronization of flagella…
Groups of eukaryotic cilia and flagella are capable of coordinating their beating over large scales, routinely exhibiting collective dynamics in the form of metachronal waves. The origin of this behaviour -- possibly influenced by both…
Beating flagella exhibit a variety of synchronization modes. This synchrony has long been attributed to hydrodynamic coupling between the flagella. However, recent work with flagellated algae indicates that a mechanism internal to the cell,…
Despite evidence for a hydrodynamic origin of flagellar synchronization between different eukaryotic cells, recent experiments have shown that in single multi-flagellated organisms, coordination hinges instead on direct basal body…
Many bacteria are motile by means of one or more rotating rigid helical flagella, making them the only known organism to use rotation as a means of propulsion. The rotation is supplied by the bacterial flagellar motor, a particularly…
The eukaryotic flagellum beats with apparently unfailing periodicity, yet responds rapidly to stimuli. Like the human heartbeat, flagellar oscillations are now known to be noisy. Using the alga \textit{C. reinhardtii}, we explore three…
Cilia and flagella are highly conserved slender organelles that exhibit a variety of rhythmic beating patterns from non-planar cone-like motions to planar wave-like deformations. Although their internal structure, composed of a…
We present a theory of flagellar synchronization in the green alga Chlamydomonas, using full treatment of flagellar hydrodynamics. We find that two recently proposed synchronization mechanisms, basal coupling and flagellar waveform…
Cilia and flagella are essential building blocks for biological fluid transport and locomotion at the micron scale. They often beat in synchrony and may transition between different synchronization modes in the same cell type. Here, we…
The hydrodynamic interactions among bacterial cell bodies, flagella, and surrounding boundaries are essential for understanding bacterial motility in complex environments. In this study, we demonstrate that each slender flagellum can be…
Recent advances in microscopy techniques has uncovered unique aspects of flagella-driven motility in bacteria. A remarkable example is the discovery of flagellar wrapping, a phenomenon whereby a bacterium wraps its flagellum (or flagellar…
A flagellated bacterium navigates fluid environments by rotating its helical flagellar bundle. The wobbling of the bacterial body significantly influences its swimming behavior. To quantify the three underlying motions--precession,…
How does a cell self-organize so that its appendages attain specific lengths that are convenient for their respective functions? What kind of 'rulers' does a cell use to measure the length of these appendages? How does a cell transport…
Biological membranes and vesicles play a central role in living systems, forming dynamic interfaces that regulate cellular organization and function. Classical descriptions of membrane mechanics that are rooted in equilibrium statistical…
Cellular appendages conferring motility, such as flagella or cilia, are known to synchronise their periodic beats. The origin of synchronisation is a combination of long-range hydrodynamic interactions with physical mechanisms allowing the…
Axonemal dyneins are the molecular motors responsible for the beating of cilia and flagella. These motors generate sliding forces between adjacent microtubule doublets within the axoneme, the motile cytoskeletal structure inside the…
Non-equilibrium processes which convert chemical energy into mechanical motion enable the motility of organisms. Bundles of inextensible filaments driven by energy transduction of molecular motors form essential components of micron-scale…
Many microorganisms propel through complex media by deformations of their flagella. The beat is thought to emerge from interactions between forces of the surrounding fluid, passive elastic response from deformations of the flagellum, and…
While hydrodynamic coupling has long been considered essential for synchronisation of eukaryotic flagella, recent experiments on the unicellular biflagellate model organism {\it Chlamydomonas} demonstrate that -- at the single cell level --…
The bacterial flagellar motor drives the rotation of flagellar filaments and enables many species of bacteria to swim. Torque is generated by interaction of stator units, anchored to the peptidoglycan cell wall, with the rotor. Recent…