Emergent run-and-tumble behavior in a simple model of Chlamydomonas with intrinsic noise.

Recent experiments on the green alga Chlamydomonas that swims using synchronized beating of a pair of flagella have revealed that it exhibits a run-and-tumble behavior similar to that of bacteria such as E. coli. Using a simple purely hydrodynamic model that incorporates a stroke cycle and an intrinsic Gaussian white noise, we show that a stochastic run-and-tumble behavior could emerge due to the nonlinearity of the combined synchronization-rotation-translation dynamics. Our study suggests that nonlinear mechanics could be a significant contributing factor to how the trajectories of the microorganism are selected.