Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 81: Active Matter (joint session BP/CPP/DY)

CPP 81.5: Talk

Friday, March 16, 2018, 10:30–10:45, H 1058

Synthetic reconstitution of beating cilia — •Isabella Guido, Smrithika Subramani, Christian Westendorf, and Eberhard Bodenschatz — Max Planck Institute for dynamics and self-organization, Göttingen, Germany

Cilia are microscopic hair-like structures that present a rhythmic waving or beating motion and are found on the surface of almost all mammalian cells and on the body of some protozoan organisms. They are used for fluid flow based transport (e.g. removal of pollutants in the trachea) or for the locomotion in viscous fluid environments.

In our work we aim to develop synthetic ciliated systems able to propel themselves or to move fluids across a fixed surface. For this purpose we employ a bottom-up approach for assembling a simple system made of few building blocks adapted from natural cilia, namely microtubules and motor proteins. Using Kinesin-1, a processive motor powered by ATP hydrolysis, we synthesized a system containing MT bundles that are free to move in all planes, deviating from the conventional gliding assay. By binding them to a surface using a suitable anchor system, we are able to observe the microtubules-motor protein system oscillations in a manner that closely mimics ciliary movement.

The issue that we are addressing in our experiments is: how simple is the simplest system that is able to beat?