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Nature 393, 624-625 (18 June 1998) | doi:10.1038/31344

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Molecular motors:  Keeping the beat

Alan J. Hunt1

The undulating beat of eukaryotic flagella and cilia produces forces that propel cells (or the constituents of their environment) in creatures ranging from algae to humans. The beats arise from bends that travel from a flagellum's base to its tip — by repetitively generating these bends, flagella assume waveforms appropriate for their specialized functions.

  1. Alan J. Hunt is in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, CB 347, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
    e-mail: Email: hunta@colorado.edu