Quantification of Flagellar Gait Changes with Combined Shape Mode Analysis and Swimming Simulations

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Gutierrez, Kelli E., Thomases, Becca, Arratia, Paulo E., Guy, Robert D.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Gutierrez, Kelli E.
Thomases, Becca
Arratia, Paulo E.
Guy, Robert D.
author_facet Gutierrez, Kelli E.
Thomases, Becca
Arratia, Paulo E.
Guy, Robert D.
contents Many different microswimmers propel themselves using flagella that beat periodically. The shape of the flagellar beat and swimming speed have been observed to change with fluid rheology. We quantify changes in the flagellar waveforms of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in response to changes in fluid viscosity using (1) shape mode analysis and (2) a full swimmer simulation to analyze how shape changes affect the swimming speed and to explore the dimensionality of the shape space. By decomposing the gait into the time-independent mean shape and the time-varying stroke, we find that the flagellar mean shape substantially changes in response to viscosity, while the changes in the time-varying stroke are more subtle. Using the swimmer simulation, we quantify how the swimming speed is affected by the dimensionality of the flagellar shape reconstruction, and we show that the observed change in swimming speed with viscosity is explained by the variations in mean flagellar shape and beat frequency, while the changes in swimming speed from the different time-varying strokes are on the scale of variation between cells.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_01554
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Quantification of Flagellar Gait Changes with Combined Shape Mode Analysis and Swimming Simulations
Gutierrez, Kelli E.
Thomases, Becca
Arratia, Paulo E.
Guy, Robert D.
Fluid Dynamics
Biological Physics
Many different microswimmers propel themselves using flagella that beat periodically. The shape of the flagellar beat and swimming speed have been observed to change with fluid rheology. We quantify changes in the flagellar waveforms of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in response to changes in fluid viscosity using (1) shape mode analysis and (2) a full swimmer simulation to analyze how shape changes affect the swimming speed and to explore the dimensionality of the shape space. By decomposing the gait into the time-independent mean shape and the time-varying stroke, we find that the flagellar mean shape substantially changes in response to viscosity, while the changes in the time-varying stroke are more subtle. Using the swimmer simulation, we quantify how the swimming speed is affected by the dimensionality of the flagellar shape reconstruction, and we show that the observed change in swimming speed with viscosity is explained by the variations in mean flagellar shape and beat frequency, while the changes in swimming speed from the different time-varying strokes are on the scale of variation between cells.
title Quantification of Flagellar Gait Changes with Combined Shape Mode Analysis and Swimming Simulations
topic Fluid Dynamics
Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.01554