Dynamics of Immobilized Flagella

Although the auger-like 'swimming' motility of the African trypanosome was described upon its discovery over one hundred years ago, the precise biomechan-ical and biophysical properties of trypanosome flagellar motion has not been elucidated. In this study, we describe five different modes of flagellar beat/wave patterns in African trypanosomes by microscopically examining the flagellar movements of chemically tethered cells. The dynamic nature of the different beat/wave patterns suggests that flagellar motion in Trypanosoma brucei is a complex mixture of oscillating waves, rigid bends, helical twists and non-linear waves. Interestingly , we have observed soliton-like depression waves along the flagellar membrane , suggesting a nonlinear mechanism for the dynamics of this system. The physical model is inspired by the 2-dimensional elastic dynamics of a beam, and by taking into account uniform distribution of molecular motors torque and non-linear terms in the curvature.