Finally – there are many mysteries to still resolve for these cells. From dramatic metamorphic capabilities🤯 to prey preference and detection mechanisms 🕵️. For anyone interested in collaborating or getting their hands on these cells, these fantastic beasts culture well and we’re happy to share!

Key transcripts encoded centrin-like proteins, a frequent component of sensory/contractile structures in protists. We visualized tentacle ultrastructure by U-ExM with @dudinlab.bsky.social lab, discovering stunning tip and collar structures 🤯that add structural complexity to new tentacle formation.

From single-cell feeding trajectories, we found that P. collini can adaptively remodel its trap structure towards the optimal configuration, expanding it upon capture and dismantling it during starvation. So what encodes the scaling and functional adaptation of the tentacle trap?

We found that P. collini traps display a broad range of morphological configurations: tentacle numbers from 1-25; and tentacle lengths ~15-30 um. To study this variation systematically, we built a deep-learning pipeline and suctorian-viewer app that digitizes the 3D morphology of P. collini cells.

Cellular structure self-organizes through an interplay between internal mechanisms and external cues. The single-celled suctorian P. collini builds a trap structure to capture large prey using microtubule feeding tentacles, creating feedback between cell morphology and prey availability.

How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a 🔥 preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4k8nv926

Dennis and Elliott (another UW Madison UG!) created a huge value add by porting the GEO toolbox to budding yeast, helping us see the universality and transferability of the programming rules we worked out for human cells. They've got an exciting story using the power of yeast we plan to post soon!

We demonstrate sensitive, real-time GEO-FM streaming of transcription and proteasomal degradation dynamics in single cells. Existing reporters can be converted into FM data streams measured in non-arbitrary units (ΔmHz) that are insensitive to photobleaching, fluorophore maturation , and intensity.

Critically, multiple activator modules could be layered together to create a composite GEO where frequency can be dynamically manipulated by the relative amounts of each activator. This provided a simple strategy for building FM data encoding circuits for single cell-streaming! 5/

Mining evolution, we found GEOs modules that could be synthetically recombined to generate faster or slower frequencies, akin to different color FPs. We characterized 169 GEO pairs in both human and yeast cells to develop a comprehensive platform for waveform programming across diverse eukaryotes

GEOs are constructed from evolutionarily diverse MinDE-family ATPase and activator modules that generate fast synthetic protein oscillations when co-expressed in human cells. These serve single-cell carrier signals, with frequency and amplitude controlled by GEO component levels and activity

Excited to share a new preprint! Wireless devices use FM modulation to transmit multiplexed noise-resistant data. Led by @born2raisecell.bsky.social, we create a biochemical analogue of this paradigm using genetically encoded oscillators (GEOs) for single-cell FM streaming tinyurl.com/nbs8rw42 🧵

brood (pocket) awakening