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Langevin dynamics deciphers the motility pattern of swimming parasites

Zaburdaev, Vasily and Uppaluri, Sravanti and Pfohl, Thomas and Engstler, Markus and Friedrich, Rudolf and Stark, Holger. (2011) Langevin dynamics deciphers the motility pattern of swimming parasites. Physical review letters, Vol. 106, H. 20. pp. 208103-208106.

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Official URL: http://edoc.unibas.ch/dok/A5843646

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Abstract

The parasite African trypanosome swims in the bloodstream of mammals and causes the highly dangerous human sleeping sickness. Cell motility is essential for the parasite’s survival within the mammalian host. We present an analysis of the random-walk pattern of a swimming trypanosome. From experimental time-autocorrelation functions for the direction of motion we identify two relaxation times that differ by an order of magnitude. They originate from the rapid deformations of the cell body and a slower rotational diffusion of the average swimming direction. Velocity fluctuations are athermal and increase for faster cells whose trajectories are also straighter. We demonstrate that such a complex dynamics is captured by two decoupled Langevin equations that decipher the complex trajectory pattern by referring it to the microscopic details of cell behavior.
Faculties and Departments:05 Faculty of Science > Departement Chemie > Former Organization Units Chemistry > Biophysikalische Chemie (Pfohl)
UniBasel Contributors:Pfohl, Thomas
Item Type:Article, refereed
Article Subtype:Research Article
Publisher:American Physical Society
ISSN:0031-9007
Note:Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article
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Last Modified:14 Sep 2012 07:20
Deposited On:14 Sep 2012 07:02

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