scholarly journals Targeted inactivation of the mouse epididymal beta-defensin 41 alters sperm flagellar beat pattern and zona pellucida binding

2016 ◽  
Vol 427 ◽  
pp. 143-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Björkgren ◽  
Luis Alvarez ◽  
Nelli Blank ◽  
Melanie Balbach ◽  
Heikki Turunen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Zona Pellucida ◽  
Flagellar Beat ◽  
Beat Pattern ◽  
Targeted Inactivation

Analysis of the Flagellar Beat Pattern of Male Ectocarpus Siliculosus Gametes (Phaeophyta) in Relation to Chemotactic Stimulation by Female Cells

1981 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
ANNETTE GELLER ◽  
DIETER G. MÜLLER
Keyword(s):  
Linear Correlation ◽  
Mode Of Action ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Sex Attractant ◽  
Cell Axis ◽  
Ectocarpus Siliculosus ◽  
Bending Waves ◽  
Flagellar Beat ◽  
Beat Pattern ◽  
Negative Linear Correlation

Heterocontic male Ectocarpus siliculosus gametes respond to the sex-attractant ectocarpen by changing their locomotive behaviour. However, the mode of action of the flagella is not changed by the presence of ectocarpen. High-speed cinemicrography shows that gametes moving close to a coverglass perform planar bending waves with their front flagellum. Straight or slightly curved swimming paths are generated by enhanced upward bends of the front flagellum to compensate for the asymmetrical insertion of both flagella. Narrower curves are connected with increasing downward bends of the front flagellum. There is a negative linear correlation between the average deflexion of the front flagellum (μm) from the cell axis and the radius of track (correlation coefficient 0.94). Additionally, freely swimming gametes exhibit elliptical and rotary wave motions, suggesting a relationship between thigmotaxis and mode of action of the front flagellum. The rigid hind flagellum performs one rapid sideward beat when the gametes swim in narrow curves. This appears to provide a steering function.

scholarly journals A minimal robophysical model of quadriflagellate self-propulsion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelimar Diaz ◽  
Tommie L. Robinson ◽  
Yasemin Ozkan Aydin ◽  
Enes Aydin ◽  
Daniel I. Goldman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Body ◽  
Swimming Performance ◽  
M Cell ◽  
Trot Gait ◽  
Flagellar Beat ◽  
Beat Pattern ◽  
Aqueous Environments ◽  
Cilia And Flagella ◽  
Microalgal Species ◽  
Phase Relationships

AbstractLocomotion at the microscale is remarkably sophisticated. Microorganisms have evolved diverse strategies to move within highly viscous environments, using deformable, propulsion-generating appendages such as cilia and flagella to drive helical or undulatory motion. In single-celled algae, these appendages can be arranged in different ways around an approximately 10µm cell body, and coordinated in distinct temporal patterns. Inspired by the observation that some quadriflagellates (bearing four flagella) have an outwardly similar morphology and flagellar beat pattern, yet swim at different speeds, this study seeks to determine whether variations in swimming performance could arise solely from differences in swimming gait. Robotics approaches are particularly suited to such investigations, where the phase relationships between appendages can be readily manipulated. Here, we developed autonomous, algae-inspired robophysical models that can self-propel in a viscous fluid. These macroscopic robots (length and width = 8.5 cm, height = 2 cm) have four independently actuated ‘flagella’ that oscillate back and forth under low-Reynolds number conditions (Re∼ 𝒪(10−1)). We tested the swimming performance of these robot models with appendages arranged in one of two distinct configurations, and coordinated in one of three distinct gaits. The gaits, namely the pronk, the trot, and the gallop, correspond to gaits adopted by distinct microalgal species. When the appendages are inserted perpendicularly around a central ‘body’, the robot achieved a net performance of 0.15−0.63 body lengths per cycle, with the trot gait being the fastest. Robotic swimming performance was found to be comparable to that of the algal microswimmers across all gaits. By creating a minimal robot that can successfully reproduce cilia-inspired drag-based swimming, our work paves the way for the design of next-generation devices that have the capacity to autonomously navigate aqueous environments.

scholarly journals Reconstruction of the three-dimensional beat pattern underlying swimming behaviors of sperm

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gong ◽  
S. Rode ◽  
G. Gompper ◽  
U. B. Kaupp ◽  
J. Elgeti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Intrinsic Property ◽  
Human Sperm ◽  
Bending Waves ◽  
Flagellar Beat ◽  
Beat Pattern ◽  
Glass Interface ◽  
Two Space Dimensions ◽  
Swimming Trajectories ◽  
Physical And Chemical

Abstract  The eukaryotic flagellum propels sperm cells and simultaneously detects physical and chemical cues that modulate the waveform of the flagellar beat. Most previous studies have characterized the flagellar beat and swimming trajectories in two space dimensions (2D) at a water/glass interface. Here, using refined holographic imaging methods, we report high-quality recordings of three-dimensional (3D) flagellar bending waves. As predicted by theory, we observed that an asymmetric and planar flagellar beat results in a circular swimming path, whereas a symmetric and non-planar flagellar beat results in a twisted-ribbon swimming path. During swimming in 3D, human sperm flagella exhibit torsion waves characterized by maxima at the low curvature regions of the flagellar wave. We suggest that these torsion waves are common in nature and that they are an intrinsic property of beating axonemes. We discuss how 3D beat patterns result in twisted-ribbon swimming paths. This study provides new insight into the axoneme dynamics, the 3D flagellar beat, and the resulting swimming behavior. Graphic abstract

scholarly journals Control of helical navigation by three-dimensional flagellar beating

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Cortese ◽  
Kirsty Y. Wan
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Axial Rotation ◽  
Live Cells ◽  
High Speed Imaging ◽  
Flagellar Beat ◽  
Motile Cells ◽  
Beat Pattern ◽  
Swimming Trajectories ◽  
Realistic Geometries

Helical swimming is a ubiquitous strategy for motile cells to generate self-gradients for environmental sensing. The model biflagellate Chlamydomonas reinhardtii rotates at a constant 1 – 2 Hz as it swims, but the mechanism is unclear. Here, we show unequivocally that the rolling motion derives from a persistent, non-planar flagellar beat pattern. This is revealed by high-speed imaging and micromanipulation of live cells. We construct a fully-3D model to relate flagellar beating directly to the free-swimming trajectories. For realistic geometries, the model reproduces both the sense and magnitude of the axial rotation of live cells. We show that helical swimming requires further symmetry-breaking between the two flagella. These functional differences underlie all tactic responses, particularly phototaxis. We propose a control strategy by which cells steer towards or away from light by modulating the sign of biflagellar dominance.

scholarly journals SpermQ–A Simple Analysis Software to Comprehensively Study Flagellar Beating and Sperm Steering

Cells ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Hansen ◽  
Sebastian Rassmann ◽  
Jan Jikeli ◽  
Dagmar Wachten
Keyword(s):  
Female Genital Tract ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Dark Field ◽  
Comprehensive Analysis ◽  
Analysis Software ◽  
Environmental Signals ◽  
Common Time ◽  
Flagellar Beat ◽  
Beat Pattern ◽  
Motile Cilia

Motile cilia, also called flagella, are found across a broad range of species; some cilia propel prokaryotes and eukaryotic cells like sperm, while cilia on epithelial surfaces create complex fluid patterns e.g., in the brain or lung. For sperm, the picture has emerged that the flagellum is not only a motor but also a sensor that detects stimuli from the environment, computing the beat pattern according to the sensory input. Thereby, the flagellum navigates sperm through the complex environment in the female genital tract. However, we know very little about how environmental signals change the flagellar beat and, thereby, the swimming behavior of sperm. It has been proposed that distinct signaling domains in the flagellum control the flagellar beat. However, a detailed analysis has been mainly hampered by the fact that current comprehensive analysis approaches rely on complex microscopy and analysis systems. Thus, knowledge on sperm signaling regulating the flagellar beat is based on custom quantification approaches that are limited to only a few aspects of the beat pattern, do not resolve the kinetics of the entire flagellum, rely on manual, qualitative descriptions, and are only a little comparable among each other. Here, we present SpermQ, a ready-to-use and comprehensive analysis software to quantify sperm motility. SpermQ provides a detailed quantification of the flagellar beat based on common time-lapse images acquired by dark-field or epi-fluorescence microscopy, making SpermQ widely applicable. We envision SpermQ becoming a standard tool in flagellar and motile cilia research that allows to readily link studies on individual signaling components in sperm and distinct flagellar beat patterns.

scholarly journals Mechanical tuning of mammalian sperm behaviour by hyperactivation, rheology and substrate adhesion: a numerical exploration

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (124) ◽  
pp. 20160633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenta Ishimoto ◽  
Eamonn A. Gaffney
Keyword(s):  
Zona Pellucida ◽  
Surrounding Medium ◽  
Fluid Elasticity ◽  
Substrate Adhesion ◽  
Mammalian Sperm ◽  
Numerical Exploration ◽  
Adhesive Surface ◽  
Beat Pattern ◽  
Mechanical Tuning ◽  
Fluid Rheology

The great mammalian sperm race encounters numerous microenvironments to which sperm must adapt and a fundamental sperm response is the change in its waveform owing to both fluid rheology and capacitation, with the latter associated with a hyperactivated beat pattern. Hence, in this modelling study, we examine the effect of different flagellar waveforms for sperm behaviour near adhesive substrates, which are representative of epithelia in female tract sperm reservoirs and the zona pellucida (ZP), which surrounds the mammalian egg. On contact with an adhesive surface, virtual sperm rotate to become nearly tangential with the surface, as generally observed. Hyperactivation also induces many effects: sperm exert greater forces on the substrate and periodically tug way from adhesions under circumstances reflecting binding at sperm reservoirs, but with extensive fluid elasticity, as found in the cumulus surrounding the ZP, sperm instead continually push into the substrate. Furthermore, with weak adhesion, rheological media increase the duration hyperactivated sperm remain in the proximity of a substrate. More generally, such results predict that changes owing to both hyperactivation of the flagellar waveform and the rheology of the surrounding medium provide a means of tuning sperm behaviour near, or attached to, adhesive substrates.

scholarly journals A steering mechanism for phototaxis in Chlamydomonas

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (104) ◽  
pp. 20141164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel R. Bennett ◽  
Ramin Golestanian
Keyword(s):  
Light Intensity ◽  
Mechanical Model ◽  
Light Signal ◽  
Negative Phototaxis ◽  
Forward Motion ◽  
Flagellar Beat ◽  
Beat Pattern ◽  
Steering Mechanism ◽  
Run And Tumble ◽  
Robust To Noise

Chlamydomonas shows both positive and negative phototaxis. It has a single eyespot near its equator, and as the cell rotates during the forward motion, the light signal received by the eyespot varies. We use a simple mechanical model of Chlamydomonas that couples the flagellar beat pattern to the light intensity at the eyespot to demonstrate a mechanism for phototactic steering that is consistent with observations. The direction of phototaxis is controlled by a parameter in our model, and the steering mechanism is robust to noise. Our model shows switching between directed phototaxis when the light is on and run-and-tumble behaviour in the dark.

Effectiveness of zona pellucida protein ZPB as an immunocontraceptive antigen

Reproduction ◽  
2000 ◽  
pp. 19-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
ML Martinez ◽  
JD Harris
Keyword(s):  
Menstrual Cycle ◽  
Recombinant Protein ◽  
Antibody Titre ◽  
Zona Pellucida ◽  
Protein A ◽  
Papio Cynocephalus ◽  
Cynomolgus Monkeys ◽  
Menstrual Cycles ◽  
Normal Menstrual Cycle

Immunization of female mammals with native zona pellucida (ZP) proteins is known to cause infertility. Since each human ZP protein is now available as a purified recombinant protein, is it possible to compare the immunocontraceptive potential of each ZP protein. A breeding study was conducted in cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fasicularis) after immunization with recombinant human ZP (rhZP) proteins (ZPA, ZPB, ZPC) separately and in combinations. This study demonstrated that immunization with recombinant human ZPB (rhZPB) protein caused cynomolgus monkeys to become infertile for 9-35 months. A second study was conducted in baboons (Papio cynocephalus), which yielded a similar result. The baboons immunized with rhZPB became infertile for 9 to > 20 months. During the time of maximum antibody titre, some animals experienced disruption of the menstrual cycle, but eventually all of the animals resumed normal menstrual cycles. Control animals and animals immunized with other rhZP proteins all became pregnant before any of the rhZPB-treated animals. This is the first study in which a recombinant ZP protein has consistently induced infertility in a primate without permanent disruption of the normal menstrual cycle.

Reproductive characteristics of the african pygmy hedgehog, atelerix albiventris

Reproduction ◽  
2000 ◽  
pp. 143-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
JM Bedford ◽  
OB Mock ◽  
SK Nagdas ◽  
VP Winfrey ◽  
GE Olson
Keyword(s):  
Fallopian Tube ◽  
Zona Pellucida ◽  
Sperm Head ◽  
Reproductive Characteristics ◽  
Cumulus Oophorus ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Main Components ◽  
Initial Binding ◽  
Structural Matrix

To obtain further perspective on reproduction and particularly gamete function among so-called primitive mammals presently grouped in the Order Insectivora, we have examined the African hedgehog, Atelerix albiventris, in light of unusual features reported in shrews and moles. Atelerix proves to share many but not all of the characteristics seen in these other insectivores. The penis of Atelerix has a 'snail-like' form, but lacks the surface spines common in insectivores and a number of other mammals. Hedgehog spermatozoa display an eccentric insertion of the tail on the sperm head, and they manifest the barbs on the perforatorium that, in shrews, probably effect the initial binding of the sperm head to the zona pellucida. As a possible correlate, the structural matrix of the hedgehog acrosome comprises only two main components, as judged by immunoblotting, rather than the complex of peptides seen in the matrix of some higher mammals. The Fallopian tube of Atelerix is relatively simple; it displays only minor differences in width and in the arborized epithelium between the isthmus and ampulla, and shows no evidence of the unusual sperm crypts that characterize the isthmus or ampulla, depending on the species, in shrews and moles. In common with other insectivores, Atelerix appears to be an induced ovulator, as judged by the ovulation of some 6-8 eggs by about 23 h after injection of hCG. The dense cumulus oophorus appeared to have little matrix, in keeping with the modest dimensions of the tubal ampulla and, while it was not quite as discrete as that of soricids, it did show the same insensitivity to 0.5% (w/v) ovine or bovine hyaluronidase.

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