Navigating signaling networks: chemotaxis in Dictyostelium discoideum.
Studies of chemotaxis in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum have revealed numerous conserved signaling networks that are activated by chemoattractants. In the presence of a uniformly distributed stimulus, these pathways are transiently activated, but in a gradient they are activated persistently and can be localized to either the front or the back of the cell. Recent studies have begun to elucidate how chemoattractant signaling regulates the three main components of chemotaxis: directional sensing, pseudopod extension, and polarization.
Franca-Koh
Jonathan
J
Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology, 725 North Wolfe Street, 114 WBSB, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Kamimura
Yoichiro
Y
Devreotes
Peter
P
D000818:Animals; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000502:physiology; D002633:Chemotaxis; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000502:physiology*; D011554:Pseudopodia / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction