Modelling motility of Trypanosoma brucei.

Abstract

African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is a life-threatening disease caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei. The bloodstream form of T. brucei has a slender body with a relatively long active flagellum, which makes it an excellent swimmer. We develop a realistic trypanosome model and perform mesoscale hydrodynamic simulations to study the importance of various mechanical characteristics for trypanosome swimming behavior. The membrane of the cell body is represented by an elastic triangulated network, while the attached flagellum consists of four interconnected running-in-parallel filaments with an active travelling bending wave, which permits a good control of the flagellum beating plane. Our simulation results are validated against experimental observations, and highlight the crucial role of body elasticity, non-uniform actuation along the flagellum length, and the orientation of flagellum-beating plane with respect to the body surface for trypanosome locomotion. These results offer a framework for exploring parasite behavior in complex environments.