Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Employing Pressurized Hot Water Extraction PHWE to Explore Natural Products Chemistry in the Undergraduate Laboratory
Published on: November 7, 2018
A natural toroidal microswimmer with a rotary eukaryotic flagellum
Sebastian Hess1,2,3, Laura Eme4,5, Andrew J Roger4
1Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. shess@magniflash.de.
Abstract:
We describe Idionectes vortex gen. nov., sp. nov., a unicellular microeukaryote that swims by continuous inversion of its surface, similar to a vortex ring. This previously unreported mode of motility approximates a hypothetical concept called the 'toroidal swimmer', in which a doughnut-shaped object rotates around its circular axis and travels in the opposite direction to its outer surface motion. During swimming, the flagellum of Idionectes rotates relative to its cell body, which is normally a hallmark of prokaryotic rather than eukaryotic flagella.
Related Concept Videos
Toroids
When connected to a supply, the magnetic field generated in the toroid has field lines circular and concentric to its axis. Conventionally, the direction of this magnetic field is expressed using the right-hand rule. If the fingers of the right hand curl in the current direction, the thumb points in...
Replication in Eukaryotes
Replication in Eukaryotes
Many Proteins Orchestrate Replication at the Origin
Eukaryotic replication follows many of the same...
The Eukaryotic Promoter Region
Eukaryotic RNA Polymerases
All three eukaryotic RNAPs require specific transcription factors, of which the...
The Tree of Life - Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryotes

