Animated reaction-diffusion patterns of eukaryotic flagella #

James Cass, Hermes Gadelha

14:30 Tuesday in 2Q48.

Part of the Self-propulsion and fluid-body interactions session.

Abstract #

Eukaryotic flagella are cellular appendages used to propel organisms through fluid. Dynein motor proteins power beating of the flagellum by hydrolysing ATP, exerting forces between the microtubules that make the up the cylindrical internal structure. It is well understood that passive elements constrain sliding motions and this leads to bending deformations. Research is ongoing, however, to explain how the collective activity of individual dyneins can result in the self-sustaining stable limit cycle oscillations of the flagellum that are seen in microswimmer experiments. Progress in this area could have implications for male infertility treatments and the design of artifical swimmers.

Most previous modelling studies have assumed that the energy supplied by the motors is dissipated in the external fluid, with little dissipation occuring internally. Recent experimental studies have called this into question. In this talk I present a self-sustaining reaction-diffusion model of flagellar beating, with an internal dissipation mechanism, that is able to reproduce the flagellar beating patterns of both Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii and bull sperm for appropriate parameters.