High hydrostatic pressure induces vigorous flagellar beating in Chlamydomonas non-motile mutants lacking the central apparatus

The beating of eukaryotic flagella (also called cilia) depends on the sliding movements between microtubules powered by dynein. In cilia/flagella of most organisms, microtubule sliding is regulated by the internal structure of cilia comprising the central pair of microtubules (CP) and radial spokes (RS). Chlamydomonas paralyzed-flagella (pf) mutants lacking CP or RS are non-motile under physiological conditions. Here, we show that high hydrostatic pressure induces vigorous flagellar beating in pf mutants. The beating pattern at 40 MPa was similar to that of wild type at atmospheric pressure. In addition, at 80 MPa, flagella underwent an asymmetric-to-symmetric waveform conversion, similar to the one triggered by an increase in intra-flagella Ca(2+) concentration during cell’s response to strong light. Thus, our study establishes that neither beating nor waveform conversion of cilia/flagella requires the presence of CP/RS in the axoneme.