Influence of cellular shape on sliding behavior of ciliates

Yukinori Nishigami, Takuya Ohmura, Atsushi Taniguchi, Shigenori Nonaka, Junichi Manabe, Takuji Ishikawa, Masatoshi Ichikawa

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Some types of ciliates accumulate on solid/fluid interfaces. This behavior is advantageous to survival in nature due to the presence of sufficient nutrition and stable environments. Recently, the accumulating mechanisms of Tetrahymena pyriformis at the interface were investigated. The synergy of the ellipsoidal shape of the cell body and the mechanosensing feature of the cilia allow for cells to slide on interfaces, and the sliding behavior leads to cell accumulation on the interfaces. Here, to examine the generality of the sliding behavior of ciliates, we characterized the behavior of Paramecium caudatum, which is a commonly studied ciliate. Our experimental and numerical results confirmed that P. caudatum also slid on the solid/fluid interface by using the same mechanism as T. pyriformis. In addition, we evaluated the effects of cellular ellipticity on their behaviors near the wall with a phase diagram produced via numerical simulation.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere1506666
JournalCommunicative and Integrative Biology
Volume11
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018 Jul 4

Keywords

  • Paramecium caudatum
  • Sliding on the wall
  • ciliates
  • unicellular behaviors

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)

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