Corkscrew motion of Trypanosome brucei is driven by helical beating of the flagellum and facilitated by its bent shape
Fuente:
arXiv
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1866912760033443840 |
|---|---|
| author | Cheng, Sizhe Das, Devadyouti Barchuk, Mykhaylo Armstrong, Raveen Klingbeil, Michele M. Thomases, Becca Zhou, Shuang |
| author_facet | Cheng, Sizhe Das, Devadyouti Barchuk, Mykhaylo Armstrong, Raveen Klingbeil, Michele M. Thomases, Becca Zhou, Shuang |
| contents | In the pathogenic parasite Trypanosoma brucei, a laterally attached flagellum drives rapid deformation of the complex cell body, producing puzzling dynamics. High-speed defocusing imaging reveals that surface points trace flower-like patterns in transverse planes. The petals arise from clockwise flagellar beating, which generates a right-handed helical wave propagating from the anterior tip along the body, advancing the cell like a twisted corkscrew. The central lobes result from slower counterclockwise body rotation required to balance the active torque. The bent cell shape underneath the flagellum superimposes these two chiral motions at different radial distances, producing the observed patterns. Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations using the method of regularized Stokeslets reproduce these dynamics and show that bent cell shape enhances swimming, suggesting an adaptive advantage of T. brucei's morphology. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_10021 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Corkscrew motion of Trypanosome brucei is driven by helical beating of the flagellum and facilitated by its bent shape Cheng, Sizhe Das, Devadyouti Barchuk, Mykhaylo Armstrong, Raveen Klingbeil, Michele M. Thomases, Becca Zhou, Shuang Biological Physics Soft Condensed Matter Fluid Dynamics In the pathogenic parasite Trypanosoma brucei, a laterally attached flagellum drives rapid deformation of the complex cell body, producing puzzling dynamics. High-speed defocusing imaging reveals that surface points trace flower-like patterns in transverse planes. The petals arise from clockwise flagellar beating, which generates a right-handed helical wave propagating from the anterior tip along the body, advancing the cell like a twisted corkscrew. The central lobes result from slower counterclockwise body rotation required to balance the active torque. The bent cell shape underneath the flagellum superimposes these two chiral motions at different radial distances, producing the observed patterns. Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations using the method of regularized Stokeslets reproduce these dynamics and show that bent cell shape enhances swimming, suggesting an adaptive advantage of T. brucei's morphology. |
| title | Corkscrew motion of Trypanosome brucei is driven by helical beating of the flagellum and facilitated by its bent shape |
| topic | Biological Physics Soft Condensed Matter Fluid Dynamics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.10021 |