The Swimming of Unipolar Cells of Spirillum Volutans: Theory and Observations

Bright-field high-speed cinemicrography was employed to record the swimming of six unipolar cells of Spirillum volutans. A complete set of geometrical parameters for each of these six cells, which are of typical but varying dimensions, was measured experimentally. For each cell, the mean swimming linear and angular speeds were measured for a period representing an exact number of flagellar cycles (at least four and up to 12 cycles). Two independent sets of measurements were carried out for each cell, one relating to the trailing and the other to the leading configuration of the flagellar bundle. The geometry of these cells was numerically modelled with curved isoparametric boundary elements (from the measured geometrical parameters), and an existing boundary element method (BEM) program was applied to predict the mean swimming linear and angular speeds. A direct comparison between the experimentally observed swimming speeds and those of the BEM predictions is made. For a typical cell, a direct comparison of the swimming trajectory, in each of the trailing and the leading flagellar configurations, was also included. Previous resistive force theory (RFT) as well as slender body theory (SBT) models are both restricted to somewhat non-realistic 'slender body' geometries, and they both fail to consider swimming kinematics. The present BEM model, however, is applicable to organisms with arbitrary geometry and correctly accounts for swimming kinematics; hence, it agrees better with experimental observations than do the previous models.