Role of flavin quenchers and inhibitors in the sensory transduction of the negative phototaxis in the flagellate,Euglena gracilis

Device and programming abstractions for spatiotemporal control of active micro-particle swarms

We present a hardware setup and a set of executable commands for spatiotemporal programming and interactive control of a swarm of self-propelled microscopic agents inside a microfluidic chip. In particular, local and global spatiotemporal light stimuli are used to direct the motion of ensembles of Euglena gracilis, a unicellular phototactic organism. We develop three levels of programming abstractions (stimulus space, swarm space, and system space) to create a scripting language for directing swarms. We then implement a multi-level proof-of-concept biotic game using these commands to demonstrate their utility. These device and programming concepts will enhance our capabilities for manipulating natural and synthetic swarms, with future applications for on-chip processing, diagnostics, education, and research on collective behaviors.

Two-dimensional optical feedback control of Euglena confined in closed-type microfluidic channels

We examined two-dimensional (2D) optical feedback control of phototaxis flagellate Euglena cells confined in closed-type microfluidic channels (microaquariums), and demonstrated that the 2D optical feedback enables the control of the density and position of Euglena cells in microaquariums externally, flexibly, and dynamically. Using three types of feedback algorithms, the density of Euglena cells in a specified area can be controlled arbitrarily and dynamically, and more than 70% of the cells can be concentrated into a specified area. Separation of photo-sensitive/insensitive Euglena cells was also demonstrated. Moreover, Euglena-based neuro-computing has been achieved, where 16 imaginary neurons were defined as Euglena-activity levels in 16 individual areas in microaquariums. The study proves that 2D optical feedback control of photoreactive flagellate microbes is promising for microbial biology studies as well as applications such as microbe-based particle transportation in microfluidic channels or separation of photo-sensitive/insensitive microbes.

Review - Flavins as photoreceptors of blue light and their spectroscopic properties

This review describes 1) the development of studies on flavin photoreceptors as blue light photoreceptors in many living organisms: their kinds and functions; 2) the studies on spectroscopic properties of flavins, both their dimers and monomers; 3) nonradiative excitation energy transport in the presence of monomers and fluorescent/nonflurescent FMN dimers (excitation traps). The existence equilibrated luminescent FMN centers, energy migration and excitation sink to FMN dimers are taken into account.

Resolution of the excitation-emission spectra of FMN in rigid poly(vinyl alcohol) matrices

The excitation-emission spectra of flavin mononucleotide (FMN) were measured in rigid PVA films for concentrations ranging from 6.92 x 10(-4)M to 1.03 M. The theoretical three-linear decomposition of the excitation-emission spectra indicated the presence of two absorption and emission centers corresponding to FMN monomer and dimer, respectively. The component of the fluorescence profile corresponding to the FMN monomer has a large negative part which is the mirror image of the emission band profile of the dimer. The elimination of this part by taking a linear combination of the emission components of the monomer and of the dimer resulted in emission spectrum, which is in a very good agreement with the monomer spectrum measured directly. The appearance of a negative part of the monomer emission profile obtained by trilinear decomposition of the emission-absorption spectra of FMN can be explained in terms of the non-radiative reverse energy transfer from the FMN dimers to the FMN monomers. The presented results confirm that the FMN molecules in rigid PVA form dimers but not higher order aggregates. Moreover, they enable to obtain fluorescence spectra of dimers and suggest that FMN dimers may take part in the process of non-radiative energy transfer occurring in photoreception phenomena.

Influence of diffusion on nonradiative energy transfer between FMN molecules in aqueous solutions

Concentration dependence of photoluminescence quantum yield of FMN aqueous solutions (66mM potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0) is investigated over the concentration range from 6.31x10(-5) M to 1.8x10(-2) M at temperatures 298.2 and 323.9K. Experimental data are compared with those obtained theoretically based on two different models of excitation energy transfer and migration in the system of FMN monomers and dimers. The first model does not take the material diffusion into account [Acta Phys. Acad. Sci. Hung. 30 (1971) 145] and the second model is based on the second-order transfer rates which are diffusion dependent [Chem. Phys. Lett. 41 (1976) 139; J. Lumin. 27 (1982) 441]. The comparison shows that the process of material diffusion cannot be neglected in the solutions studied as the relative contribution of the diffusion accelerated nonradiative energy transfer to the total drop of the quantum yield can be even higher then 70%. It is also shown, that in order to obtain a good agreement of the experimental and theoretical data it is necessary to introduce into the theory an additional channel of deactivation for the excitation energy. It is proposed that this additional channel can be partial degradation of excitation energy during its migration between the monomers.

The effect of temperature on FMN absorption spectra in rigid poly(vinyl alcohol) matrices

Electronic absorption spectra of flavomononucleotide (FMN) in poly(vinyl alcohol) films (PVA) were measured over the concentrations ranging from 6.9 x 10(-4) to 6.8 x 10(-1) M and temperatures from 263 to 338 K. The FMN absorption spectra measurements performed at room temperature have shown two ranges of different changes as a function of dye concentration. For concentrations c<10(-1) M (range I) the spectra exhibited regular changes showing an isosbestic point, which evidences the equilibrium between monomers and dimers. However, for range II (c>1.05 x 10(-1) M) the FMN absorption spectra occurred to be almost independent of concentration and they nearly overlapped with the dimer spectrum (within the error limit). Temperature measurements have shown that the FMN absorption spectra in PVA are stable over a wide temperature range. The mean distances between FMN molecules in PVA films are calculated. For maximal concentrations (from the range II), they are below 13.1 A, whereas the mean dimensions of FMN monomers and dimers are 15.8 and 21.1 A, respectively, which indicates that the orientation of dimers and monomers in the PVA film cannot be random at high concentrations. Molecules are partly ordered, adopting approximately parallel orientation, which is in agreement with the calculations of dimer structure by molecular modelling method (MMM).

Effects of heavy metals on motility and gravitactic orientation of the flagellate, Euglena gracilis

The effects of copper, mercury, cadmium and lead on the gravitactic orientation of the photosynthetic flagellate Euglena gracilis were investigated. The first two heavy metals reverse the direction of downward swimming (positive gravitaxis) in young cultures (up to 8 days) to an upward swimming (negative gravitaxis); cadmium produced a less pronounced effect. Higher concentrations of heavy metals decrease the precision of orientation as compared to the control due to frequent deviations of the cells from straight paths. Higher concentrations also decrease the swimming velocity of the populations. When the cells were growing in the presence of the heavy metal, copper was effective at > or = 50 microM, cadmium at > or = 3 microM and mercury at > or = 1 microM. Since lead formed insoluble precipitations with the acetate in the growth medium it was tested after the cells were transferred into Tris buffer. Under these conditions lead did not affect the direction of movement or the precision of orientation up to a concentration of 300 microM in the time up to 24 h after the addition of the heavy metal. However, high concentrations of lead strongly decreased the swimming speed of the cells, which was partially reversed with time.

The influence of fluorescence concentration quenching on the emission anisotropy of flavins in glycerine-water solutions

The measurements of the emission anisotropy r/r0 of flavomononucleotide (FMN) within a range of concentrations of 10(-5)-10(-1) mol/L in glycerine-water solutions of different viscosities--0.056 Pa/s (system I) and 0.256 Pa/s (system II) have been carried out. In the range of high concentrations the repolarization effect due to the sharp drop of the quantum yield has been observed. The experimental results have been compared with theoretical expressions evaluated by taking into account both concentration and rotation depolarization. A good agreement on the values of the theoretical parameters obtained from independent measurements has been found. It has been stated that in the investigated systems the excitation energy transfer may be treated as a Markov process.

Motility and gravitactic orientation of the flagellate, Euglena gracilis, impaired by artificial and solar UV-B radiation

The effects of ultraviolet radiation on the gravitactic orientation of the freshwater flagellate, Euglena gracilis, were determined by a real time image analysis system. Both artificial UV radiation and solar radiation in a temperature-controlled growth chamber were employed. Histograms of gravitaxis showed that the degree of orientation decreased with increasing exposure time; this can be quantified using the Rayleigh test and upper quadrant summation. The effects of artificial UV radiation on the orientation are considerably stronger than those of solar radiation, probably because the radiation source emits higher fluence rates below 300 nm than found in solar radiation. The effects of monochromatic ultraviolet radiation on motility have been determined, and an action spectrum has been calculated.