THE COVALENT OSCILLATOR - A PARADIGM ACCOUNTING FOR THE SLIDING BENDING MECHANISM AND WAVE-PROPAGATION IN CILIA AND FLAGELLA

In most models of wave propagation in eucaryotic flagella and cilia, a clear distinction is made between the dynein dependent microtubule sl iding which represents the oscillatory motor and the bending mechanism which regulates wave propagation. Little is known about the physical elements regulating the latter: in the present model, the bending prop agation is postulated to be supported by an open/close cyclic mechanis m protease/ligase dependent, which involves transient covalent links b etween adjacent microtubular doublets; this open/close cycle propagate s in register with the powering action of the dynein motor along the a xoneme. The implications of the model are discussed in relation to pre vious data which involve protease/ligase in the axonemal function as w ell as other data which can be integrated by the proposed model.