iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

All raw microscopy data are on BioImage Archive and image processing tools are on GitHub. If you've seen anything like this in algae or other microbes on rich media, we'd love to hear from you. [9/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

What triggers this? What are the wisps? Is it adaptive or a stress response? We don't know yet. We're sharing these observations now because they're unexpected and we want feedback — similar phenomena in other systems, mechanistic ideas, experimental priorities. [8/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

We also saw reorganization of chloroplasts and mitochondria inside the transformed cells. In some, chloroplasts clustered at the periphery while mitochondria concentrated in a central zone — a striking spatial separation from their normally close association. [7/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

When we stained with mitochondrial dyes, we detected signal within these appendages — in one case extending nearly 200 µm from the cell body. [6/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Some of the most striking features: thin wisp-like appendages extending from cell bodies. They were barely visible in raw images but popped out after contrast enhancement. They don't beat like flagella and seem mostly static. [5/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Erdschreiber's medium has similar salt levels to Marine Broth but lacks organic nutrients like peptone and yeast extract. Cells on Erdschreiber's got bigger and rounder, but didn't develop the extreme amorphous shapes. This suggests it's not just osmotic stress — organic nutrients seem key. [4/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

The results were way more dramatic than expected. After 40+ days on Marine Broth agar, cells were way larger, amorphous, packed with vacuole-like structures, and completely non-motile. Nothing like the tidy ellipsoids you see in standard freshwater media. [3/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

We'd previously noticed C. smithii could grow on marine media while C. reinhardtii couldn't, and that the cells looked "larger and rounded." But we'd resuspended those cells in water, which could cause osmotic swelling. So we went back and imaged them properly — in the growth medium itself. [2/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

New pub from @ArcadiaScience 🧵 We found that C. smithii — a freshwater green alga — undergoes wild morphological transformations when grown on Marine Broth. Huge cells with mysterious wisp-like appendages. Here's what we saw. thestacks.org/publications... [1/9]

thestacks.org

Morphological transformation of Chlamydomonas smithii grown in Marine Broth medium

Marine Broth induces extreme morphological transformation in C. smithii: Cells shift from typical ellipsoid shape to amorphous forms with thin wisp-like appendages containing mitochondria, revealing u...

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

zoogle.arcadiascience.com told us Chlamy is a great model for ADA1 — so we tried it! Come chat about it: Sunday Dec 7, 2:15–3:45 pm (digital poster, near the @ascbiology.bsky.social booth) Monday Dec 8, 2:15–3:45 pm (paper poster, B538)

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

This work highlights why genetic background matters in model organisms! Even after multiple rounds of backcrossing, unexpected phenotypes can emerge that may not be directly related to the gene you're studying. @ArcadiaScience [9/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

To figure this out, we're testing another CPC1 mutant (cpc1-2) from a different genetic background and trying to rescue both with wild-type CPC1 expression. This should tell us if these growth phenotypes are due to the mutation or genetic background. [8/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Why does cpc1-1 behave so differently? It might be retaining genetic material from its parent strain despite backcrossing. Or maybe the CPC1 protein itself plays a role in metabolism - it does interact with enolase and other glycolytic enzymes! [7/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Third, after 47 days, cpc1-1 was the ONLY strain that could grow on marine medium with high salt content, revealing an unexpected halotolerance. [6/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Second, on nitrate-containing media, wild-type C. reinhardtii and ida4 showed chlorosis (yellowing) as expected due to their nit2 mutation. But cpc1-1 maintained dark green colonies, suggesting it can use nitrate efficiently. [5/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

First, cpc1-1 showed enhanced growth on media with proteose peptone, outperforming wild-type strains that barely grew in this condition! [4/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

The cpc1-1 mutant (which has defects in the central pair complex of flagella) showed three surprising growth phenotypes that weren't present in other strains, including the ida4 mutant (which has inner dynein arm defects). [3/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

We were studying flagellar mutants as models for human ciliary diseases when we noticed something odd about their growth patterns. So we decided to compare growth across different media types to see if these mutations affect metabolism beyond just flagellar function. [2/9]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Discovered some unexpected growth phenotypes in Chlamydomonas flagellar mutants! The cpc1-1 strain (with central pair complex defects) shows surprising metabolic traits that might be independent of its flagellar defects. 🧵 research.arcadiascience.com/pub/observat... [1/9]

research.arcadiascience.com

Chlamydomonas cpc1-1 mutant exhibits unexpected growth phenotypes

Comparative analysis of <i>Chlamydomonas </i>strains revealed that a <i>cpc1-1</i> mutant has three unexpected growth phenotypes across different media types, suggesting possible genetic background co...

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Reposted by Cameron Dale MacQuarrie

Arcadia Science @arcadiascience.com · 12/02/2025

Happy Darwin Day! Today, we’re thinking about how to use evolution to accelerate biomedical research. We think the answer is to expand the repertoire of organismal models. Search for the best ones using our new portal, Zoogle: zoogle.arcadiascience.com 🧵

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Today at #CellBio24, I'll discuss our new pub at the "Quantitative Biology in Emerging Model Systems" subgroup session at 5:15 pm in Ballroom 20A. Come check it out!

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

Today at #CellBio24, Dave Mets will be at poster B599 talking about mapping genotypes to phenotypes! poster: zenodo.org/records/1449...

zenodo.org

G-P Atlas: a neural network for hollistically mapping genotypes to phenotypes

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Our new pub dropped this weekend! For those at #CellBio24, I'll be at poster B73 starting at 11:15 am discussing this work! I'll also be giving a talk on Tuesday at 5:15 pm in Ballroom 20A in the Quantitative Biology in Emerging Model Systems session poster here: zenodo.org/records/14481493

zenodo.org

Rescuing Chlamydomonas Motility in Mutants Modeling Spermatogenic Failure

Poster file created for CellBio2024 (ASCB / EMBO) based on the pub Essock-Burns T, Lane R, MacQuarrie CD, Mets DG. (2024). Rescuing Chlamydomonas motility in mutants modeling spermatogenic failure. ht...

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

The different effects of each drug highlight how similar swimming problems can arise from distinct molecular pathways. What works for one genetic variant may not work for another [6/8]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Despite similar motility defects, the mutations responded differently to treatment —- what rescued one mutation often had no effect on the other. This suggests mutation-specific therapeutic approaches are needed [5/8]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

We developed two complementary approaches to measure motility: a population "sink-or-swim" assay and detailed single-cell tracking with SwimTracker (research.arcadiascience.com/pub/resource-swimtracker-htp-swimming-assay/release/2). This revealed how drugs affect different aspects of swimming [4/8]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

These mutants were characterized decades ago and show similar swimming defects to those seen in SPGF patients' sperm. Our phylogenetic framework showed they're excellent models for SPGF83 and SPGF43 [3/8]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

We used phylogenetic analysis from our pub led by Ryan York, Austin Patton & @pracheeac.bsky.social (research.arcadiascience.com/pub/result-evolutionary-organismal-selection) and found Chlamydomonas proteins have high conservation with SPGF proteins. [2/8]

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Tomorrow at #CellBio24, I'll be at poster (B73) talking about some fun new work we just released using Chlamydomonas to model spermatogenic failure. Check out the poster here: zenodo.org/records/14481493 Join the fun and post your comments & questions on the pub! bit.ly/chlamy-spgf

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Reposted by Cameron Dale MacQuarrie

Prachee Avasthi @pracheeac.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Ryan’s poster: zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/... The concept: research.arcadiascience.com/pub/idea-sel... The approach and analyses: research.arcadiascience.com/pub/result-e... The validation: research.arcadiascience.com/pub/result-c...

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Reposted by Cameron Dale MacQuarrie

Prachee Avasthi @pracheeac.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

If you’re at #CellBio2024 drop by Ryan’s poster today (Board B574) to hear the latest from @arcadiascience.bsky.social about how you can choose the right model system for your research or find areas best studied in the species you have expertise/infrastructure Poster and publications below

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023

Plus, check out the insanely cool findings on differences in motility patterns and organelle morphology between the species in this Twitter/X thread! 8/9 twitter.com/TaraEssockBu...

twitter.com

Tweet by @TaraEssockBurns

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023

We designed a 96-well plate magnetic field block. Surprisingly, after a week of growth on the block, we were able to clearly distinguish between these two species, consistent with C. smithii having a thinner cell wall! 7/9

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023

But this method is low-throughput, so instead, we grew cells w/ Congo red, which is toxic to cell wall (cw) mutant yeast. It wasn’t sensitive enough to distinguish btw the two WT species, but we saw less growth in cw mutants, so this is a decent assay to find algal cw mutants 5/9

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023

We started by staining the two species with calcofluor-white, which binds to cell wall components. Our analysis showed thicker staining in C. reinhardtii, consistent with C. smithii having a weaker wall (analysis in the pub!)! 4/9

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023

We’d also found that C. smithii is more sensitive to detergent, which could indicate less environmental protection. We’ve adapted this protocol to work in a 96-well plate. These findings led us to compare the cell wall of the species. 3/9

C. smithii released more chlorophyll when treated with detergent, consistent with a weaker cell wall

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 13/12/2023

First update! Although we’ve seen C. smithii adapting to a wide range of media, these cells are more sensitive to a harsh antibiotic-fungicide cocktail! 2/9

Spot assay of C. reinhardtii and C. smithii on TAP with or without antibiotics

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 01/12/2023

Our work is most valuable when accessible to all, so find the poster at ascb2023.arcadiascience.com and the pub at bit.ly/chlamy-parents. We’re always looking for feedback and are especially interested in ideas of what traits we could test so please consider commenting on our pub!

ascb2023.arcadiascience.com

Arcadia Science | ASCB 2023

Arcadia Science is heading to #cellbio2023! On this page, you can see what we’ll be up to, when/where you can find us, and check out all the science we’re sharing, including poster PDFs and links ...

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 01/12/2023

🎉 Excited to share our latest work at #CellBio23! I'll be presenting a poster on our pub “Phenotypic differences between interfertile Chlamydomonas species” and our continued work in the Protists and Parasites Cell Biology poster session (Board #723) @arcadiascience.bsky.social

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Cameron Dale MacQuarrie @cdmacquarrie.bsky.social · 11/11/2023

DALL-E's take on a colored pencil sketch of Chlamydomonas

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