Near-wall rheotaxis of the ciliate
            <i>Tetrahymena</i>
            induced by the kinesthetic sensing of cilia

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

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abi5878

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…We performed numerical simulations of the swimming ciliates under a shear flow with the model in the former section [42]. As expected from the previous result, the swimmers without the SBA repelled from the wall and were swept away downstream.…”

Section: Rheotaxis: Ciliate Slides Upstream On a Wall Under An Extern...mentioning

confidence: 64%

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Simple dynamics underlying the survival behaviors of ciliates

2022

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Edited by Tamiki Komatsuzaki Ciliates are swimming microorganisms in aquatic environments. Habitats where ciliates accumulate include nutrient-rich solid-liquid interfaces such as pond bottom walls and waterweed surfaces. The ciliates stay near the walls to survive. We investigated the dynamics of the near-wall behavior of ciliates. In experiments, the ciliates were made to slide on a flat wall of glass substrate. When encountering the wall, the wall-side cilia of the cells stop their motion and lose their propelling activity, which indicates that the ciliates have a mechano-sensing system for cilia beating. Based on the experimental results, we hypothesized that the ciliary thrust force that propels the cell body becomes asymmetric, and the asymmetry of the thrust force generates a head-down torque to keep the cell sliding on the wall. To prove this hypothesis, we performed numerical simulations by using a developed hydrodynamic model for swimming ciliates. The model revealed that the loss of cilia activity on the wall side physically induces a sliding motion, and the aspect ratio of the cell body and effective cilium area are critical functions for the sliding behavior on a wall. In addition, we investigated the stability of the sliding motion against an external flow. We found that ciliates slide upstream on a wall. Interestingly, the dynamics of this upstream sliding, called rheotaxis, were also explained by the identical physical conditions for no-flow sliding. Only two simple physical conditions are required to explain the dynamics of ciliate survival behavior. This review article is an extended version of the Japanese article, Fluid Dynamic Model Reveals a Mechano-sensing System Underlying the Behavior of Ciliates, published in

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Section: Rheotaxis: Ciliate Slides Upstream On a Wall Under An Extern...mentioning

confidence: 64%

“…In this review, we introduce a mechanical model of microbial swimming and use it to explain the dynamics using the behaviors of ciliates, which occur close to a wall and in an external flow [39][40][41][42].…”

Section: ◀ Significance ▶mentioning

confidence: 99%

Simple dynamics underlying the survival behaviors of ciliates

2022

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“…In Stentor , photoresponse ( Song et al, 1980a ; Song et al, 1980b ; Iwatsuki, 1992 ), external mechanical stimuli ( Wood, 1969b ) and chemical avoidance responses ( Jennings, 1906 ; Dexter et al, 2019 ; Trinh et al, 2019 ) have been reported previously. The behaviors of microorganisms are strongly influenced by extracellular geometries ( Kantsler et al, 2013 ; Kunita et al, 2014 ; Beppu et al, 2017 ; Beppu et al,2021 ; Ishikawa and Kikuchi, 2018 ; Nishigami et al, 2018 ; Ohmura et al, 2018 ; Ohmura et al, 2021 ; Ostapenko et al, 2018 ; Bhattacharjee and Datta, 2019 ; Bentley et al, 2021 ; Okuyama et al, 2021 ; Théry et al, 2021 ) corresponding to mud, dead leaves or other varieties of sediments in their habitats. In our study, we evaluated the effect of a structure on behavioral transition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even in bacteria and protists, a navigation ability is required to survive, and their habitats consist of diverse microscopic structures that affect their behaviors. Indeed, the behavioral responses of these organisms have been studied in various microspace geometries: porous media ( Bhattacharjee and Datta, 2019 ), rigid surfaces ( Kantsler et al, 2013 ; Ohmura et al, 2018 , 2021 ), dead ends ( Kunita et al, 2014 ), corners ( Théry et al, 2021 ), interstices between inclined plates ( Ishikawa and Kikuchi, 2018 ) and confined areas ( Beppu et al, 2017 , 2021 ; Ostapenko et al, 2018 ; Bentley et al, 2021 ). From these studies, it was determined that cell behaviors change in response to the geometrical structures of living spaces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Switching of behavioral modes and their modulation by a geometrical cue in the ciliate Stentor coeruleus

Echigoya

Sato

Kishida

et al. 2022

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.

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Protists ubiquitously live in nature and play key roles in the food web chain. Their habitats consist of various geometrical structures, such as porous media and rigid surfaces, affecting their motilities. A kind of protist, Stentor coeruleus, exhibits free swimming and adhering for feeding. Under environmental and culture conditions, these organisms are often found in sediments with complex geometries. The determination of anchoring location is essential for their lives. However, the factors that induce the behavioral transition from swimming to adhering are still unknown. In this study, we quantitatively characterized the behavioral transitions in S. coeruleus and observed the behavior in a chamber with dead ends made by a simple structure mimicking the environmental structures. As a result, the cell adheres and feeds in narrow spaces between the structure and the chamber wall. It may be reasonable for the organism to hide itself from predators and capture prey in these spaces. The behavioral strategy for the exploration and exploitation of spaces with a wide variety of geometries in their habitats is discussed.

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“…In addition, it has recently been reported that Tetrahymena changes its behavior according to extracellular space conditions other than chemicals. For example, Tetrahymena memorizes the space by confining itself to a small cylindrical area [13,14], assembles at the oxygen-rich air-liquid interface [15,16] or at the food-rich solid-liquid interface [17], and swims against the external flow [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accumulation of Tetrahymena pyriformis on Interfaces

et al. 2021

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The behavior of ciliates has been studied for many years through environmental biology and the ethology of microorganisms, and recent hydrodynamic studies of microswimmers have greatly advanced our understanding of the behavioral dynamics at the single-cell level. However, the association between single-cell dynamics captured by microscopic observation and pattern dynamics obtained by macroscopic observation is not always obvious. Hence, to bridge the gap between the two, there is a need for experimental results on swarming dynamics at the mesoscopic scale. In this study, we investigated the spatial population dynamics of the ciliate, Tetrahymena pyriformis, based on quantitative data analysis. We combined the image processing of 3D micrographs and machine learning to obtain the positional data of individual cells of T. pyriformis and examined their statistical properties based on spatio-temporal data. According to the 3D spatial distribution of cells and their temporal evolution, cells accumulated both on the solid wall at the bottom surface and underneath the air–liquid interface at the top. Furthermore, we quantitatively clarified the difference in accumulation levels between the bulk and the interface by creating a simple behavioral model that incorporated quantitative accumulation coefficients in its solution. The accumulation coefficients can be compared under different conditions and between different species.

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Near-wall rheotaxis of the ciliate Tetrahymena induced by the kinesthetic sensing of cilia

Abstract: Kinesthetic sensing of cilia results in upstream motility for Tetrahymena pyriformis , a typical freshwater microorganism.

Cited by 15 publications

References 34 publications

Simple dynamics underlying the survival behaviors of ciliates

Simple dynamics underlying the survival behaviors of ciliates

Switching of behavioral modes and their modulation by a geometrical cue in the ciliate Stentor coeruleus

Accumulation of Tetrahymena pyriformis on Interfaces

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