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Metachronal waves in the flagellar beating of Volvox and their hydrodynamic origin
(Royal Society PublishingJournal of the Royal Society Interface, 2015-06-03)
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 ...
Cortical microtubule nucleation can organise the cytoskeleton of Drosophila oocytes to define the anteroposterior axis
(eLifeeLife, 2015-09-25)
Many cells contain non-centrosomal arrays of microtubules (MTs), but the assembly, organisation and function of these arrays are poorly understood. We present the first theoretical model for the non-centrosomal MT cytoskeleton ...
A model for the effects of germanium on silica biomineralization in choanoflagellates
(Royal Society PublishingJournal of the Royal Society Interface, 2016-09-21)
Silica biomineralization is a widespread phenomenon of major biotechnological interest. Modifying biosilica with substances like germanium (Ge) can confer useful new properties, although exposure to high levels of Ge ...
Aerotaxis in the closest relatives of animals
(eLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife, 2016-11-24)
As the closest unicellular relatives of animals, choanoflagellates serve as useful model organisms for understanding the evolution of animal multicellularity. An important factor in animal evolution was the increasing ocean ...
Fluid dynamics at the scale of the cell
(Cambridge University PressJournal of Fluid Mechanics, 2016-10-17)
The world of cellular biology provides us with many fascinating fluid dynamical phenomena that lie at the heart of physiology, development, evolution and ecology. Advances in imaging, micromanipulation and microfluidics ...
Long-range interactions, wobbles, and phase defects in chains of model cilia
(American Physical SoceityPhysical Review Fluids, 2016-12-13)
Eukaryotic cilia and flagella are chemo-mechanical oscillators capable of generating long-range coordinated motions known as metachronal waves. Pair synchronization is a fundamental requirement for these collective dynamics, ...
Theory of Shape-Shifting Droplets
(American Physical SocietyPhysical Review Letters, 2017-02-24)
Recent studies of cooled oil emulsion droplets uncovered transformations into a host of flattened shapes with straight edges and sharp corners, driven by a partial phase transition of the bulk liquid phase. Here, we explore ...
Scattering of biflagellate micro-swimmers from surfaces
(American Physics SocietyPhysical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, 2017-08-10)
We use a three-bead-spring model to investigate the dynamics of bi-flagellate micro-swimmers near a surface. While the primary dynamics and scattering are governed by geometric-dependent direct contact, the fluid flows ...
Spontaneous oscillations of elastic filaments induced by molecular motors.
(The Royal SocietyJournal of the Royal Society, Interface, 2017-11)
It is known from the wave-like motion of microtubules in motility assays that the piconewton forces that motors produce can be sufficient to bend the filaments. In cellular phenomena such as cytosplasmic streaming, molecular ...
Motility of Colonial Choanoflagellates and the Statistics of Aggregate Random Walkers
(American Physical SocietyPhysical Review Letters, 2016-01-22)
We illuminate the nature of the three-dimensional random walks of microorganisms composed of individual organisms adhered together. Such aggregate random walkers are typified by choanoflagellates, eukaryotes that are the ...