SKM 2023 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 30: Active Matter V (joint session BP/CPP/DY)
BP 30.5: Talk
Friday, March 31, 2023, 11:00–11:15, TOE 317
Chlamydomonas axonemes twist during the beat — •Martin Striegler1,2, Benjamin M. Friedrich3, Stefan Diez1,2,3, and Veikko F. Geyer1 — 1B CUBE - Center for Molecular Bioengineering, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany — 3Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Motile cilia are slender cell appendages that drive single cell locomotion and fluid transport across surfaces. The motility of cilia is generated by its inner core, the axoneme, which bends by the activity of dynein motor proteins. Generation of bending requires antagonistic dynein activity on opposing sides of the axoneme. How dyneins are activated antagonistically is unknown. Theoretical models propose dynein regulation by mechanical feedback, which entails structural deformations of the axoneme, but direct experimental evidence is missing. To study axonemal deformations during the beat, we purify and reactivate Chlamydomonas reinhardtii axonemes. Using defocused-high-speed-darkfield microscopy, we resolve the 3D waveforms with nanometer resolution on millisecond timescales. We find that asymmetric waveforms have a non-planar component, which is most pronounced during the recovery stroke. To generate non-planarity within the geometric constraints of the axoneme, twist is thought to be required. Using gold-nano-particles as probes attached to the outside of reactivated axonemes, we, for the first time, measure dynamic twisting deformations in reactivated axonemes. We hypothesize that these deformations are involved in controlling dynein motors generating the axonemal beat.