Metachronal waves in the flagellar beating of Volvox and their hydrodynamic origin
Douglas R. Brumley, Marco Polin, Timothy J. Pedley, Raymond E. Goldstein
TL;DR
This paper studies how flagella in Volvox algae coordinate their movements through metachronal waves and identifies the hydrodynamic forces behind this coordination.
Contribution
The study introduces a minimal model showing how hydrodynamic coupling and oscillator properties generate metachronal waves and phase defects in Volvox flagella.
Findings
Metachronal coordination in Volvox flagella is interrupted by periodic phase defects.
A hydrodynamic model of coupled oscillators reproduces metachronal dynamics and defects.
Random frequency variations in oscillators enhance the robustness of metachronal waves.
Abstract
Groups of eukaryotic cilia and flagella are capable of coordinating their beating over large scales, routinely exhibiting collective dynamics in the form of metachronal waves. The origin of this behaviour—possibly influenced by both mechanical interactions and direct biological regulation—is poorly understood, in large part due to a lack of quantitative experimental studies. Here we characterize in detail flagellar coordination on the surface of the multicellular alga Volvox carteri, an emerging model organism for flagellar dynamics. Our studies reveal for the first time that the average metachronal coordination observed is punctuated by periodic phase defects during which synchrony is partial and limited to specific groups of cells. A minimal model of hydrodynamically coupled oscillators can reproduce semi-quantitatively the characteristics of the average metachronal dynamics, and the…
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Taxonomy
TopicsMicro and Nano Robotics · Micro and Nano Robotics · Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation