Ethological dynamics in diorama environments

For single-celled organisms, cellular movement is an essential function for survival in a spatio-temporally changing environment. Among these, amoeboid movement allows for highly adaptable motions through various cell deformations. However, due to its versatility, a unified understanding of amoeboid movement across diverse environments has been challenging. In this study, we create a framework that explains amoeboid movement in a unified manner by quantifying cellular deformations discretely. The polynomial model constructed by this framework describes the movement of the centroid based on the time series data of deformation modes, connecting the obtained coefficients to actual movement patterns. This method allows us to measure and compare amoeboid movements in varying environments, highlighting significant deformations in each scenario. This allows us to examine the mechanics underlying cellular adaptation strategies.