Magnetic configuration model for the multicellular magnetotactic prokaryote Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis |
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Authors: | Daniel Acosta-Avalos Luciana Maria dos Santos Azevedo Taciana Salama Andrade Henrique Lins de Barros |
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Institution: | (1) Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas F?sicas, Rua Xavier Sigaud 150, Urca, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 22290-180, Brazil |
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Abstract: | Candidatus Magnetoglobus multicellularis (CMm) is a multicellular organism in which each constituent cell is a magnetotactic bacterium.
It has been observed that disaggregation of this organism provokes the death of the individual cells. The observed flagellar
movement of the CMm indicates that the constituent cells move in a coordinated way, indicating a strong correlation between
them and showing that this aggregate could be considered as an individual. As every constituent cell is a magnetotactic bacterium,
every cell contributes with a magnetic moment vector to the resultant magnetic moment of the CMm organism that can be calculated
through the vectorial sum of all the constituent magnetic moments. Scanning electron microscopy images of CMm organisms have
shown that the constituent cells are distributed on a helix convoluted on a spherical surface. To analyze the magnetic properties
of the distribution of magnetic moments on this curve, we calculated the magnetic energy numerically as well as the vectorial
sum of the magnetic moment distribution as a function of the number of cells, the sphere radius and the number of spiral loops.
This distribution proposes a magnetic organization not seen in any other living organism and shows that minimum energy configurations
of magnetic moments are in spherical meridian chains, perpendicular to the helix turns. We observed that CMm has a high theoretical
degree of magnetic optimization, showing that its geometrical structure is important to the magnetic response. Our results
indicate that the helical structure must have magnetic significance. |
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