# Revealing Rotational Characteristics of the Uniflagellate Mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii through DeepLabCut-Based Autotracking

## TL;DR

This paper introduces an automated tracking method to study the rotation of a mutant green alga's flagellum, revealing differences in live and demembranated cells.

## Contribution

A DeepLabCut-based autotracking method is applied to study rotational dynamics of a uniflagellate mutant in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

## Key findings

- Live uni1 cells rotated counterclockwise under a coverslip when viewed from above.
- Demembranated uni1 models showed slower, more clockwise rotation.
- Differences in rotation are likely due to changes in the 3D flagellar waveform.

## Abstract

Tracking eukaryotic flagella and cilia often requires manual clicking, even in the age of digital imaging. We developed an autotracking method using DeepLabCut, a CNN-based, marker-less tracking tool originally designed for animal behavior. Applying this method, we uncovered rotational characteristics of
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
uni1
, a uniflagellate mutant. Live
uni1
cells predominantly rotated counterclockwise under a coverslip when viewed from above, whereas demembranated models exhibited slower, more clockwise rotation. These differences likely stem from alterations in the three-dimensional flagellar waveform.