Figure 2.

Increased linearity of swimming in high disperser cells correlates with narrow cell shape and longer cilia

(A) Fluorescence images of BBs (α-TtCen1; greyscale) and cell morphology from the three highest and three lowest dispersing strains among the 22 T. thermophila strains (scale bar, 10 μm) (n = 19.7 ± 1.7 cells per strain). Graphs indicate the individual mean and standard deviation for each morphology parameter relative to the mean morphology for all strains (red line).

(B) Plot of correlations between the ranked morphologies and the dispersal rate of the 22 T. thermophila strains (n = 19.7 ± 1.7 cells per strain).Correlation was calculated using linear regression between morphologies. Correlation is defined as F-test non-zero slopes of p=<0.05 denoted by a boxed blue “+1” (positive correlation) or orange “-1” (negative correlation), and no correlation is defined as F-test non-zero slopes of p=>0.05 denoted by a black boxed by “0” (see STAR Methods).

(C) Plot of the ranked innate aspect ratio (cell length/width) and innate cilia length relative to ranked swimming linearity (displacement/total distance) in disperser cells. Linear regression shows slopes are non-zero for aspect ratio (p = 0.04) and cilia length (p = 0.03). Higher ranked numbers (0–22) denote increased ranked linearity, increased ranked aspect ratio, and longer ranked cilia.

(D) Model of T. thermophila cell morphology relative to swimming behavior during dispersal.