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Stress-Induced Dinoflagellate Bioluminescence at the Single Cell Level

Maziyar Jalaal1, Nico Schramma1,2, Antoine Dode1,3, Hélène de Maleprade1, Christophe Raufaste1,4, and Raymond E. Goldstein1,*

  • 1Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0WA, United Kingdom
  • 2Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
  • 3LadHyX, UMR 7646 du CNRS, École polytechnique, 91120 Palaiseau, France
  • 4Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Institut de Physique de Nice, CNRS, 06100 Nice, France

  • *R.E.Goldstein@damtp.cam.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 028102 – Published 6 July, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.028102

Abstract

One of the characteristic features of many marine dinoflagellates is their bioluminescence, which lights up nighttime breaking waves or seawater sliced by a ship’s prow. While the internal biochemistry of light production by these microorganisms is well established, the manner by which fluid shear or mechanical forces trigger bioluminescence is still poorly understood. We report controlled measurements of the relation between mechanical stress and light production at the single cell level, using high-speed imaging of micropipette-held cells of the marine dinoflagellate Pyrocystis lunula subjected to localized fluid flows or direct indentation. We find a viscoelastic response in which light intensity depends on both the amplitude and rate of deformation, consistent with the action of stretch-activated ion channels. A phenomenological model captures the experimental observations.

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A Light Squeeze

Published 6 July, 2020

Experiments detail how mechanical stress triggers marine microbes to light up.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 028102– Published 6 July, 2020
  • Received 18 March 2020
  • Accepted 26 May 2020
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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