Tunable asymmetric swimming in biflagellate microswimmers

TL;DR

This paper uncovers a fundamental mechanism by which biflagellate microswimmers modulate their swimming direction through asymmetric interactions of propulsive forces, enabling controlled turning without structural asymmetries.

Contribution

It introduces a core principle of asymmetric turning based on force interactions, supported by models and a robophysical experiment, advancing understanding of microswimmer navigation.

Findings

Propulsive forces can be tuned to control swimming direction.

A quantitative relation links ciliary beat frequency to trajectory curvature.

Robophysical experiments validate the model's predictions for phototactic turning.

Abstract

Many biological microswimmers can modulate their swimming gait to achieve directional control of motility, especially when performing steering towards specific directional cues. This can be achieved without the need for obvious morphological or structural asymmetries in the form of the organism, or in the number or organisation of propulsion-generating appendages such as cilia. In this work, we identify and validate a core principle of asymmetric turning in biflagellate microswimmers: propulsive forces interact constructively to drive translation whilst interacting destructively to drive rotation. We explore the ramifications of this tunable biflagellar swimming mechanism across a range of systems, from a simple, back-of-the-envelope model to a detailed computational representation of an exemplar swimmer. This leads to a markedly general quantitative relation between key drivers of asymmetry, such as ciliary beat frequency, and the curvature of emergent trajectories. We discuss how the model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which actuates its two cilia in a symmetric breaststroke for forward swimming, may exploit this feature for phototaxis. Finally, we validate our predictions in a Chlamydomonas-inspired robophysical model, implementing closed-loop control to achieve phototactic turning.