Single-cell analysis of habituation in Stentor coeruleus

Rajan, Deepa; Makushok, Tatyana; Kalish, Asa; Acuna, Lilibeth; Bonville, Alex; Almanza, Kathya Correa; Garibay, Brenda; Tang, Eric; Voss, Megan; Lin, Athena W.; Barlow, Kyle; Harrigan, Patrick J.; Slabodnick, Mark M.; Marshall, Wallace F.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.010

Cited by 28 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Perhaps this is the most startling and elegant simplicity of all. While excitement has been building around the general possibility that single cells may serve as useful arenas for exploring the phenomenology of learning without neurons [35, 36], our work here shows that the bacterial cell size, under balanced growth conditions, is not a repository of cellular memory, and therefore cannot serve as a diffuse living brain with a capacity for learning on intergenerational timescales.…”

Section: Discussion and Concluding Remarksmentioning

confidence: 91%

Emergent Simplicities in Stochastic Intergenerational Homeostasis

Joshi

Wright

Ziegler

et al. 2023

Preprint

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We reconceptualize homeostasis from an inherently stochastic, intergenerational perspective. Here we use our SChemostat technology to directly record high-precision multigenerational trains of sizes of statistically identical non-interacting individual cells of Caulobacter crescentus in precisely controlled environmental conditions. We first show that individual cells indeed maintain stochastic intergenerational homeostasis of their characteristic sizes, then extract organizational principles in the form of an intergenerational scaling law and other "emergent simplicities", which facilitate a principled route to dimensional reduction of the problem. We use these emergent simplicities to formulate the precise theoretical framework for stochastic homeostasis, which not only captures the exact kinematics of stochastic intergenerational cell size homeostasis (providing spectacular theory-data matches with no fitting parameters), but also determines the necessary and sufficient condition for stochastic intergenerational homeostasis. Compellingly, our reanalysis of existing data published by other groups using different single-cell technologies demonstrates that this intergenerational framework is applicable to other microorganisms (Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis) in a variety of growth conditions. Finally, we establish that in balanced growth conditions stochastic intergenerational cell size homeostasis is achieved through elastic adaptation, thus precluding the possibility that cell size can act as a repository of intergenerational memory.

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Section: Discussion and Concluding Remarksmentioning

confidence: 91%

Emergent Simplicities in Stochastic Intergenerational Homeostasis

Joshi

Wright

Ziegler

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Importantly, repetitive cycles of excitation can lead to a reduction in movement similar to sensory adaptation. In the protist Stentor , some stimuli that initially produce a contraction lose their effectiveness after repeated presentations (Rajan et al, 2023; Wood, 1988b; Figure 2A). Mechanical stimulation has little or no effect, but contractions are potentiated by a combination of mechanical and electrical stimulation.…”

Section: Behavioral Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral plasticity in aneural organisms.

Papini

2024

Psychological Review

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“…Ciliates, including Tetrahymena and Paramecium, are powerful unicellular model organisms that have been used to uncover fundamental insights in diverse biological processes from DNA replication to the microtubule cytoskeleton [1][2][3] . Recently, the ciliate Stentor coeruleus has received renewed interest as a model for studying wound healing, regeneration, habituation and learning in a unicellular system [4][5][6][7] . Nevertheless, beyond a few select species, ciliate biology has remained largely unexplored, in part due to technical challenges in studying these organisms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SMORES: A Simple Microfluidic Operating Room for the Examination and Surgery ofStentor coeruleus

Zhang,

Rodriguez,

Tang

2024

Preprint

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Ciliates are powerful unicellular model organisms that have been used to elucidate fundamental biological processes. However, the high motility of ciliates presents a major challenge in studies using live-cell microscopy and microsurgery. While various immobilization methods have been developed, they are physiologically disruptive to the cell and incompatible with microscopy and/or microsurgery. Here, we describe a Simple Microfluidic Operating Room for the Examination and Surgery of Stentor coeruleus (SMORES). SMORES uses Quake valve-based microfluidics to trap, compress, and perform surgery on Stentor as our model ciliate. Compared with previous methods, immobilization by physical compression in SMORES is more effective and uniform. The mean velocity of compressed cells is 24 times less than that of uncompressed cells. The compression is minimally disruptive to the cell and is easily applied or removed using a 3D-printed pressure rig. We demonstrate cell immobilization for up to 2 hours without sacrificing cell viability. SMORES is compatible with confocal microscopy and is capable of media exchange for pharmacokinetic studies. Finally, the modular design of SMORES allows laser ablation or mechanical dissection of a cell into many cell fragments at once. These capabilities are expected to enable biological studies previously impossible in ciliates and other motile species.

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Single-cell analysis of habituation in Stentor coeruleus

Cited by 28 publications

References 37 publications

Emergent Simplicities in Stochastic Intergenerational Homeostasis

Emergent Simplicities in Stochastic Intergenerational Homeostasis

Behavioral plasticity in aneural organisms.

SMORES: A Simple Microfluidic Operating Room for the Examination and Surgery ofStentor coeruleus

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