A Dynamic Hydration Runtime in Lacrymaria olor: Microtubule Ribbons, Cellular Origami, and Water-Cluster Signaling

Lacrymaria olor is a single-celled predatory ciliate that extends a slender neck many times longer than its body, searches the surrounding space, and captures prey without a nervous system. Recent studies indicate that this hyperextensibility is based on cellular origami: helical microtubule ribbons, membrane pleats, and cortical cytoskeletal elements. This manuscript proposes an extended OUX hypothesis: the measured origami architecture may support an additional water-cluster runtime layer, in which ordered hydration pathways associated with microtubule ribbons and cortical anchoring structures transmit fast control information among the body, neck, head, cilia, oral apparatus, feeding processes, and regenerative processes. The hypothesis does not replace known mechanical and cytoskeletal mechanisms; it uses them as the anatomical substrate for an additional informational layer that can be tested by high-speed imaging, perturbation experiments, ion-reduced, osmolarity-controlled media, optical/spectroscopic probes, and modeling of microtubule-associated water.