Nonlinear Phototaxis and Instabilities in Suspensions of Light-Seeking Algae

The mechanism by which living organisms seek optimal light conditions???phototaxis???is a fundamental process for motile photosynthetic microbes. It is involved in a broad array of natural processes and applications from bloom formation to the production of high-value chemicals in photobioreactors. Here, we show that a population of the model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii exhibits a highly sensitive nonlinear response to light and demonstrate that the self-organization of cells in a heterogeneous environment becomes unstable as the result of a coupling between bioconvective flows and phototaxis.

Automated summary

The mechanism of how living organisms seek optimal light conditions, known as phototaxis, plays a crucial role in the production and environmental impact of motile photosynthetic microbes. The population of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii shows a highly sensitive nonlinear response to light.