COORDINATED FLAGELLAR AND CILIARY BEATING IN THE PROTOZOAN TRITRICHOMONAS-FETUS

Tritrichomonas foetus is a flagellated protozoon found in urogenital t ract of cattle. Its free movement in liquid medium is powered by the c oordinated movement of three flagella projecting towards the anterior region of the cell, and one recurrent flagellum that forms a junction with the cell body and ends as a free projection in the posterior regi on of the cell. We have used video microscopy and digital image proces sing to analyze the relationships between the movements of these flage lla. The anterior flagella beat in a ciliary type pattern displaying e ffective and recovery strokes, while the recurrent flagellum beats in a typical flagellar wave form. One of the three anterior flagella has a distinctive pattern of beating. It beats straight in its forward dir ection as opposed to the ample beats performed by the others. Frequenc y measurements obtained from cells swimming in a viscous medium shows that the beating frequency of the recurrent flagellum is approximate t wice the frequency for the three anterior flagella. We also observed t hat the costa and the axostyle do not show any active motion. On the c ontrary, they form a cytoskeletal base for the anchoring and orientati on of the flagella.