title: Swimming patterns of the quadriflagellate Tetraflagellochloris mauritanica (Chlamydomonadales, Chlorophyceae).
abstract: Chlamydomonadales are elective subjects for the investigation of the problems related to locomotion and transport in biological fluid dynamics, whose resolution could enhance searching efficiency and assist in the avoidance of dangerous environments. In this paper, we elucidate the swimming behavior of Tetraflagellochloris mauritanica, a unicellular-multicellular alga belonging to the order Chlamydomonadales. This quadriflagellate alga has a complex swimming motion consisting of alternating swimming phases connected by in-place random reorientations and resting phases. It is capable of both forward and backward swimming, both being normal modes of swimming. The complex swimming behavior resembles the run-and-tumble motion of peritrichous bacteria, with in-place reorientation taking the place of tumbles. In the forward swimming, T. mauritanica shows a very efficient flagellar beat, with undulatory retrograde waves that run along the flagella to their tip. In the backward swimming, the flagella show a nonstereotypical synchronization mode, with a pattern that does not fit any of the modes present in the other Chlamydomonadales so far investigated.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biofisica, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barsanti
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologia Informazione, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Primo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coltelli
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biofisica, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Valtere
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Evangelista
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biofisica, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Frassanito
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Biofisica, CNR, Via Moruzzi 1, Pisa, 56124, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gualtieri
mesh_terms: D058948:Cell Tracking; D005407:Flagella / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009068:Movement; D013997:Time Factors; D016823:Volvocida / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure
keywords: Tetraflagellochloris mauritanica; flagella synchronization; flagellar efficiency; low-Reynolds-number hydrodynamics