title: Spontaneous symmetry breaking turing-type pattern formation in a confined Dictyostelium cell mass.
abstract: We have discovered a new type of patterning which occurs in a two-dimensionally confined cell mass of the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. Besides the longitudinal structure reported earlier, we observed a spontaneous symmetry breaking spot pattern whose wavelength shows similar strain dependency to that of the longitudinal pattern. We propose that these structures are due to a reaction-diffusion Turing instability similar to the one which has been exemplified by CIMA (chlorite-iodide-malonic acid) reaction. The present finding may exhibit the first biochemical Turing structure in a developmental system with a controllable boundary condition.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Information Sciences, Tohoku University, Katahira, Sendai 980-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sawai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sawada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004058:Diffusion; D007700:Kinetics; D008853:Microscopy; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen