Print Email Facebook Twitter The younger flagellum sets the beat for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Title The younger flagellum sets the beat for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Author Wei, D. (TU Delft BN/Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam Lab; Chinese Academy of Sciences) Quaranta, G. (TU Delft Fluid Mechanics) Aubin-Tam, M.E. (TU Delft BN/Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam Lab) Tam, D.S.W. (TU Delft Fluid Mechanics) Date 2024 Abstract Eukaryotes swim with coordinated flagellar (ciliary) beating and steer by fine-tuning the coordination. The model organism for studying flagellate motility, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, employs synchronous, breaststroke-like flagellar beating to swim, and it modulates the beating amplitudes differentially to steer. This strategy hinges on both inherent flagellar asymmetries (e.g. different response to chemical messengers) and such asymmetries being effectively coordinated in the synchronous beating. In C. reinhardtii, the synchrony of beating is known to be supported by a mechanical connection between flagella; however, how flagellar asymmetries persist in the synchrony remains elusive. For example, it has been speculated for decades that one flagellum leads the beating, as its dynamic properties (i.e. frequency, waveform, etc.) appear to be copied by the other one. In this study, we combine experiments, computations, and modeling efforts to elucidate the roles played by each flagellum in synchronous beating. With a non-invasive technique to selectively load each flagellum, we show that the coordinated beating essentially only responds to load exerted on the cis flagellum; and that such asymmetry in response derives from a unilateral coupling between the two flagella. Our results highlight a distinct role for each flagellum in coordination and have implication for biflagellates’ tactic behaviors. Subject chlamydomonas reinhardtiiflagellar coordinationmicroswimmersphysics of living systemssynchronization To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:862be71d-a097-4fac-b9d1-9f913499f521 DOI https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.86102 ISSN 2050-084X Source eLife, 13 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2024 D. Wei, G. Quaranta, M.E. Aubin-Tam, D.S.W. Tam Files PDF elife-86102-v1-1.pdf 8.92 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:862be71d-a097-4fac-b9d1-9f913499f521/datastream/OBJ/view