Twist and turn: elastohydrodynamics of microscale active fibres

Abstract Cellular locomotion often involves the motion of thin, elastic filaments, such as cilia and flagella, in viscous environments. The manuscript serves as a general introduction to the topic of modelling microscale elastohydrodynamics. We briefly characterise the specific features of biological filaments that affect their propulsion modes, and discuss the discrete and continuous theoretical frameworks for their description, along with selected biological and artificial examples of active systems.