CILIA AND FLAGELLA

CHAPTER 8 – CELL: THE UNIT OF LIFE

 CILIA AND FLAGELLA
- Hair like outgrowths of cell membrane – emerge from centriole like structures called basal -
bodies
- Works like oars, movement of the cell or the fluid around it (cilia – locomotion, feeding,
circulation etc. , flagella - locomotion)
- Cilia is smaller in length than flagella
- Cilia is present in eukaryotic cells (example: ciliated protozoans) whereas flagella are present
in both(prokaryotic (Vibrio cholerae and Campylobacter jejuni ) and eukaryotic
(Spermatozoa or sperm cell) )
- Cilia are present in much larger numbers (in 100s) whereas flagella are present are few in
number(within 10s).
- Cilia – present all over the body of the cell, Flagella – either at both the ends or all over the
cell surface.
- Eukaryotic flagella are different from Prokaryotic flagella (differs in structure & movement)
 MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF FLAGELLUM/CILIUM
- They are covered with plasma membrane
- Core ----> Axoneme
- Axoneme --> number of microtubles that run parallel to the long axis (a line
extending through the center of an object – like an axis )
- Microtubules arrangment (also reffered as 9+2 array) :
9 doublets of radially arranged peripheral microtubules
2 centrally located microtubules ---- connected by a bridge and enclosed in central
sheaths
Central sheath is connected to one of the tubules of the pair by a radial spoke --- 9
radial spokes
Peripheral doublets are also interconnected by linkers