An adaptable, self-organizing, single-cell morphology circuit optimizes suctorian predatory trap structure

Cellular structure self-organizes through an interplay between internal mechanisms and external cues, but how complex target morphologies can be precisely specified while remaining adaptable is often unclear. Suctorians are a structurally diverse class of predatory ciliates that capture large prey using arrays of straw-like feeding tentacles that siphon out cytoplasm, providing a model for exploring adaptation of cellular structure and function. Here, we describe a single-cell self-organizing morphology circuit that uses feedback to optimize the predatory trap structure of the suctorian Podophrya collini. We find that trap architecture scales in a biased manner, favoring tentacle number over length, to maximize capture probability for available resources. Drug perturbations, transcriptomics, proteomics, and expansion microscopy define distinct molecular and structural requirements that regulate trap maintenance and biogenesis. We develop a mathematical model that explains the trap's adaptive scaling and makes predictions that we confirm experimentally. More broadly, this circuit architecture provides general-purpose control logic for organizing the number and size of sub-cellular structures, translatable to diverse suctorian species as well as other natural and engineered cellular systems. VIDEO ABSTRACT.