Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

The DPG Spring Meeting in Dresden had to be cancelled! Read more ...

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 18: Poster VI

BP 18.7: Poster

Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 14:00–16:00, P2/2OG

Unravelling the biomolecular mechanism of light-switchable adhesion of Chlamydomonas to surfaces — •Antoine Girot, Rodrigo Catalán, Alexandros Fragkopoulos, Anaëlle Chrétien, Line Holtzer, and Oliver Bäumchen — Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS), Am Fassberg 17, 37077 Göttingen, Germany

Bioadhesion is a ubiquitous phenomenon for many living systems such as mussels, bacteria or microalgae. In this work, we focus on the adhesion of the flagellated microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We discovered that Chlamydomonas exhibits light-switchable adhesion, in which the flagella of the cells stick to surfaces under blue but not under red light. Our goal is to unravel the biomolecular mechanism of this specific light-regulated behaviour. In order to characterise the adhesiveness of Chlamydomonas to surfaces, two different experimental approaches are carried out. First, the kinetics of the adsorption and desorption of a cell suspension to a surface in response to a light switch is recorded. Second, in vivo micropipette force spectroscopy experiments are performed to precisely measure the adhesion force of single cells. By applying these methods for different wild-type as well as genetically modified strains, we aim at identifying characteristic gene sequences associated to the cells adhesiveness. To unravel the blue-light photoreceptor that triggers the light-switchable adhesion, experiments with specific photoreceptor-deleted mutants are performed. Finally, we also investigate how the glycosylation of the flagella membrane proteins affects the adhesiveness of Chlamydomonas.