Hydrodynamic Synchronization and Metachronal Waves on the Surface of the Colonial Alga<i>Volvox carteri</i>

Brumley, Douglas R.; Polin, Marco; Pedley, T. J.; Goldstein, Raymond E.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.109.268102

Cited by 161 publications

(194 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

189

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The origin of this is a mystery. Finally, we discovered that Volvox carteri displays robust metachronal waves (Brumley et al 2012(Brumley et al , 2015. This finding is significant in the search for a mechanistic understanding of metachronal waves because the spacing between the somatic cells of Volvox is comparable to or larger than the flagellar length, and there are no direct intercellular connections between the somatic cells.…”

Section: R E Goldsteinmentioning

confidence: 79%

Batchelor Prize Lecture Fluid dynamics at the scale of the cell

Goldstein

2016

J. Fluid Mech.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The world of cellular biology provides us with many fascinating fluid dynamical phenomena that lie at the heart of physiology, development, evolution and ecology. Advances in imaging, micromanipulation and microfluidics over the past decade have made possible high-precision measurements of such flows, providing tests of microhydrodynamic theories and revealing a wealth of new phenomena calling out for explanation. Here I summarize progress in four areas within the field of 'active matter': cytoplasmic streaming in plant cells, synchronization of eukaryotic flagella, interactions between swimming cells and surfaces and collective behaviour in suspensions of microswimmers. Throughout, I emphasize open problems in which fluid dynamical methods are key ingredients in an interdisciplinary approach to the mysteries of life.

show abstract

Section: R E Goldsteinmentioning

confidence: 79%

Batchelor Prize Lecture Fluid dynamics at the scale of the cell

Goldstein

2016

J. Fluid Mech.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Simple actuated bead models have been used extensively to study swimming [31][32][33][34][35] and synchronization [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] at low Reynolds number. Inspired by measurements of the flow field around Chlamydomonas, found to be well represented by three Stokeslets [44,45], we represent the flagella as spheres moving around circular trajectories in opposite directions.…”

Section: The Three-sphere Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

A steering mechanism for phototaxis in Chlamydomonas

Bennett

Golestanian

2015

J. R. Soc. Interface.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Chlamydomonas shows both positive and negative phototaxis. It has a single eyespot near its equator, and as the cell rotates during the forward motion, the light signal received by the eyespot varies. We use a simple mechanical model of Chlamydomonas that couples the flagellar beat pattern to the light intensity at the eyespot to demonstrate a mechanism for phototactic steering that is consistent with observations. The direction of phototaxis is controlled by a parameter in our model, and the steering mechanism is robust to noise. Our model shows switching between directed phototaxis when the light is on and run-and-tumble behaviour in the dark.

show abstract

“…Adult spheroids possess two cell types: Large germ cells interior of an extracellular matrix grow to form new colonies, whereas smaller somatic cells form a dense surface covering of flagella protruding into the medium, enabling swimming. These flagella generate waves of propulsion, which, despite lack of centralized or neuronal control ("coxless"), are coherent over the span of the organism (14). In addition, somatic cells isolated from their embedding colonies (Fig.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coordinated beating of algal flagella is mediated by basal coupling

Wan

Goldstein

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

168

193

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cilia and flagella often exhibit synchronized behavior; this includes phase locking, as seen in Chlamydomonas, and metachronal wave formation in the respiratory cilia of higher organisms. Since the observations by Gray and Rothschild of phase synchrony of nearby swimming spermatozoa, it has been a working hypothesis that synchrony arises from hydrodynamic interactions between beating filaments. Recent work on the dynamics of physically separated pairs of flagella isolated from the multicellular alga Volvox has shown that hydrodynamic coupling alone is sufficient to produce synchrony. However, the situation is more complex in unicellular organisms bearing few flagella. We show that flagella of Chlamydomonas mutants deficient in filamentary connections between basal bodies display markedly different synchronization from the wild type. We perform micromanipulation on configurations of flagella and conclude that a mechanism, internal to the cell, must provide an additional flagellar coupling. In naturally occurring species with 4, 8, or even 16 flagella, we find diverse symmetries of basal body positioning and of the flagellar apparatus that are coincident with specific gaits of flagellar actuation, suggesting that it is a competition between intracellular coupling and hydrodynamic interactions that ultimately determines the precise form of flagellar coordination in unicellular algae.

show abstract

Hydrodynamic Synchronization and Metachronal Waves on the Surface of the Colonial AlgaVolvox carteri

Cited by 161 publications

References 33 publications

Batchelor Prize Lecture Fluid dynamics at the scale of the cell

Batchelor Prize Lecture Fluid dynamics at the scale of the cell

A steering mechanism for phototaxis in Chlamydomonas

Coordinated beating of algal flagella is mediated by basal coupling

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About