Bistability in the synchronization of actuated microfilaments

Abstract

Cilia and flagella are essential building blocks for biological fluid transport and locomotion at the micron scale. They often beat in synchrony and may transition between different synchronization modes in the same cell type. Here, we investigate the behavior of elastic microfilaments, protruding from a surface and driven at their base by a configuration-dependent torque. We consider full hydrodynamic interactions among and within filaments and no slip at the surface. Isolated filaments exhibit periodic deformations, with increasing waviness and frequency as the magnitude of the driving torque increases. Two nearby but independently-driven filaments synchronize their beating in-phase or anti-phase. This synchrony arises autonomously via the interplay between hydrodynamic coupling and filament elasticity. Importantly, in-phase and anti-phase synchronization modes are bistable and co-exist for a range of driving torques and separation distances. These findings are consistent with experimental observations of in-phase and anti-phase synchronization in the biflagellate \textit{Chlamydomonas reinhardtii} and could have important implications on understanding the biophysical mechanisms underlying transitions between multiple synchronization modes.

arXiv comment26 pages, 11 figures

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Cited by in corpus (19)

• The boundary integral formulation of Stokes flows includes slender-body theory
• A multiscale biophysical model gives quantized metachronal waves in a lattice of cilia
• Methods for suspensions of passive and active filaments
• Hydrodynamic synchronization of spontaneously beating filaments
• Multisynchrony in active microfilaments
• Spontaneous phase coordination and fluid pumping in model ciliary carpets
• Nonreciprocal interactions give rise to fast cilium synchronisation in finite systems
• Efficient Implementation of Elastohydrodynamics via Integral Operators
• Doing more with less: the flagellar end piece enhances the propulsive effectiveness of human spermatozoa
• A Minimal Model of the Hydrodynamical Coupling of Flagella on a Spherical Body with application to Volvox
• Eulerian simulation of complex suspensions and biolocomotion in three dimensions
• Competing effects of inertia, sheet elasticity, and fluid viscoelasticity on the synchronization of two actuated sheets
• Minimal design of a synthetic cilium
• Lateral contact yields longitudinal cohesion in active undulatory systems
• Intracellular coupling modulates biflagellar synchrony
• Instability-driven Oscillations of Elastic Microfilaments
• Elastohydrodynamic synchronization of rotating bacterial flagella
• Simulating cilia-driven mixing and transport in complex geometries
• Aerosol deposition in mucus-lined ciliated airways