Abstract
‘Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis’ is a multicellular magnetotactic prokaryote found in the Araruama lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This microorganism shows a photokinesis that depends on the incident light wavelength, but that dependence can be canceled by the presence of radio-frequency (RF) electromagnetic fields. The present manuscript has as its aim to study the effect of light wavelength and RF fields on the U-turn time of ‘Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis’, a behavior more related to magnetotaxis. As the experiments were performed during the night, the microorganisms were greater in size than normal, indicating that they were in the process of division. Our results show that when normal in size, the microorganism’s U-turn time is modified by the light wavelength (lower for blue light than for green and red light), but RF fields do not affect that U-turn time dependence on the light wavelength. For the microorganism in the process of division, we describe for the first time how the photokinesis and U-turn time dependence on the light wavelength disappear. It is proposed that methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins are involved in that light wavelength dependence for the U-turn time, but still more studies are necessary to understand how RF fields cancel the photokinesis light wavelength dependence, but do not affect the dependence of the U-turn time.
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Acknowledgements
D. Acosta-Avalos would like to thank Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro—FAPERJ—for financial support. Beatriz Silva Lima would like to thank Brazilian agency CNPq for a PIBIC Grant.
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Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro—FAPERJ.
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MS and DA-A planned the experiments, MS performed the experiments during the night and obtained data from the videos, BSL performed the experiment during the day and obtained data from the videos, MS and DA-A analyzed the data, and DA-A wrote the manuscript.
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Sales, M.V.G., Lima, B.S. & Acosta-Avalos, D. U-turn time and velocity dependence on the wavelength of light: multicellular magnetotactic prokaryotes of different sizes behave differently. Eur Biophys J 49, 633–642 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-020-01472-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-020-01472-7