File:Trypanosome-Motion-Represents-an-Adaptation-to-the-Crowded-Environment-of-the-Vertebrate-Bloodstream-ppat.1003023.s012.ogv

English: Trypanosomes are able to persistently swim backwards, confined by narrowly spaced obstacles. Analysis of a trypanosome swimming backwards through a microarray of pillars with a spacing of 4 µm. The directional movement is shown first in real time, then in slow motion, while a series of waves running from the posterior to the anterior end is traced and annotated. Simultaneously, the translocation of the posterior end is traced. Each movement is caused by one flagellar beat, observed when the corresponding wave reaches the anterior free part of the flagellum. The corresponding absolved movements and flagellar beats are shown in a three-dimensional overview at the end of the video. Here, all traced movements are depicted as continuous structures along the time-axis, which is rotated in order to visualize the progression of translocation in time from bottom left to top right of the image. The cell performs successive base-to-tip beats that result in a flagellar curvature producing characteristic hook conformations, which make the flagellum deviate from the movement-axis further than the sinus curves produced by forward motion. This results in more irregular translocations of the cell body, which is nevertheless confined to a straight path by the surrounding pillars.