A steering mechanism for phototaxis in Chlamydomonas

作者:Bennett Rachel R; Golestanian Ramin*
来源:Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 2015, 12(104): 20141164.
DOI:10.1098/rsif.2014.1164

摘要

Chlamydomonas shows both positive and negative phototaxis. It has a single eyespot near its equator, and as the cell rotates during the forward motion, the light signal received by the eyespot varies. We use a simple mechanical model of Chlamydomonas that couples the flagellar beat pattern to the light intensity at the eyespot to demonstrate a mechanism for phototactic steering that is consistent with observations. The direction of phototaxis is controlled by a parameter in our model, and the steering mechanism is robust to noise. Our model shows switching between directed phototaxis when the light is on and run-and-tumble behaviour in the dark.

  • 出版日期2015-3-6