Possible cooperation of differential adhesion and chemotaxis in mound formation of Dictyostelium.
In the mound stage of Dictyostelium discoideum, pre-stalk cells sort and form a tip at the apex. How this pattern forms is as yet unknown. A cellular level model allows us to simulate both differential cell adhesion and chemotaxis, to show that with differential adhesion only, pre-stalk cells move to the surface of the mound but form no tip. With chemotaxis driven by an outgoing circular wave only, a tip forms but contains both pre-stalk and pre-spore cells. Only for a narrow range of relative strengths between differential adhesion and chemotaxis can both mechanisms work in concert to form a tip containing only pre-stalk cells. The simulations provide a method to determine the processes necessary for patterning and suggest a series of further experiments.
Jiang
Y
Y
Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA. yi@cnls.lanl.gov
Levine
H
H
Glazier
J
J
D000818:Animals; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D009010:Monte Carlo Method
D000242:Cyclic AMP