The role of cytoskeletal mechanics in wound healing in the single-celled organism Stentor coeruleus

While wound healing in tissues is well-studied, the corresponding mechanisms in individual cells poorly understood. Studying single-cell wound healing reveals how biological cells recover from damage and informs design principles for synthetic cells. The unicellular ciliate Stentor coeruleus, with its large size (~1 mm) and ability to recover from significant structural damage, is ideal to address this question. Stentor’s mechanical response is driven by a cytoskeletal network of extensile microtubule bundles mechanically coupled to contractile myonemes, well-suited for computational modeling as an active composite fiber network. In this study, we couple the mechanical response of this network to calcium signaling triggered by wounding, where calcium binding induces myoneme contraction. Using this model, we investigate the mechano-chemical healing mechanisms for wounds parallel or perpendicular to the cell’s major axis. Simulation results are compared with experiments, providing insights into how cells like Stentor recover from mechanical damage.