Anticipation of periodic events influences cell motility in amoeba proteus

TL;DR

Amoeba proteus can anticipate periodic environmental cues and adjust their movement in response, suggesting a form of adaptive behavior in single-cell organisms.

Contribution

Demonstrates that Amoeba proteus can anticipate periodic stimuli, adding to evidence of adaptive behavior in single-cell organisms.

Findings

Amoeba proteus reduced streaming speed in-phase with expected blue light stimulations.

The response occurred spontaneously at the time of the next anticipated stimulus.

This suggests single cells can anticipate and adapt to periodic environmental cues.

Abstract

All migrating cells (both single-cell organisms and as part of multicellular organisms) sense environmental conditions and respond to physical and molecular cues by changing the direction and speed of cellular movement. Adaptive behaviors enable motile cells to thrive in dynamic environments. A study with slime mold suggested an ability to anticipate dry and cold periods. However, experimental evidence for anticipation in other single-cell organisms is lacking. Here, we investigated whether Amoeba proteus can anticipate unfavourable periodic stimuli. Amoeba proteus react to blue light (405 nm) by reducing their streaming speed in response to each stimulation. As expected, after four periodic blue light stimulations A. proteus presented spontaneous in-phase reduction in streaming speed at the time point when the next stimulation would have occurred. Our results corroborate the claim that single cells are able to anticipate periodic environmental cues and change their behaviour in anticipation of these cues. These findings may have implications for the interpretation of cellular processes in vitro and in vivo even in complex multicellular systems.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-026-37298-0.

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