Artificial cilia spontaneously act in concert

MSNBC : Zvonimir Dogic of Brandeis University and his colleagues have performed an experiment that helps solve a biological mystery: how cilia, the microscopic hairs that sprout from certain cells, beat together to perform such useful tasks as expelling mucous from lungs and ferrying eggs from ovaries into the uterus. Dogic’s team made artificial cilia from just three components: microtubule filaments, motor proteins called kinesin, and a bundling agent. Although the artificial cilia lacked a dedicated internal means to communicate with each other, the researchers found that the cilia spontaneously beat together under certain external conditions. The simplicity of the artificial system could lead to nonbiological applications.