A collaborative research group led by Professor Masatoshi Ichikawa of Kyoto University observed the movement of the ciliate Tetrahymena as it swims near the wall surface, and elucidated the mechanism by which it gathers on the wall surface such as rocks and stones.
Ciliates such as Tetrahymena and Paramecium are often thought to be swimming in large spaces such as ponds and lakes, but in reality they are often distributed near walls such as the bottom of ponds, stones, and the surface of leaves. It is known.It can be said that it is a comfortable environment for ciliates because food easily accumulates on the wall surface and the flow around it is weak, but how ciliates detect a wall surface that has no taste or smell and slides on the wall surface. It was unclear whether it continued to do so or not.
Therefore, the research group observed the movement of Tetrahymena swimming near the wall surface by experiment, and verified the measurement result by fluid simulation.As a result, it became clear that two simple elements, "mechanical stimulus response characteristics of cilia that generate propulsion" and "cell shape of ciliates", greatly contribute to the wall sliding movement of ciliates. rice field.As a result, it was found that the two patterns of crawling on the wall when eating food and moving at high speed from wall to wall in search of a feeding ground are automatically switched.
Properties called "taxis" such as chemotaxis that moves toward a specific chemical substance are being actively studied, but this result is a new result that ciliates have a mechanism equivalent to chemotaxis by a mechanical mechanism. This is the first time I have shown that I have it.
