Dictyostelium discoideum: cellular self-organization in an excitable biological medium.

The dynamics which govern the establishment of pattern and form in multicellular organisms remain a key problem of developmental biology. We study this question in the case of morphogenesis during aggregation of the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum. Here detailed experimental information allows...

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Main Authors: Höfer, T, Sherratt, J, Maini, P
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 1995
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author Höfer, T
Sherratt, J
Maini, P
author_facet Höfer, T
Sherratt, J
Maini, P
author_sort Höfer, T
collection OXFORD
description The dynamics which govern the establishment of pattern and form in multicellular organisms remain a key problem of developmental biology. We study this question in the case of morphogenesis during aggregation of the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum. Here detailed experimental information allows the formulation of a mechanistic model in which the central element is the coupling of the previously much-studied intracellular cyclic AMP signalling with the chemotactic cell response in cyclic AMP gradients. Numerical simulations of the model show quantitatively how signal relay, chemotactic movement and adaptation orchestrate the collective modes of cell signalling and migration in the aggregating cell layer. The interaction of chemotaxis with the cyclic AMP excitation waves causes the initially homogeneous cell layer to become unstable towards the formation of a branching cell stream pattern with close cell-cell contacts as observed in situ. The evolving cell morphology in turn leads to a pattern of non-homogeneous excitability of the medium and thus feeds back into the cAMP dynamics. This feedback can explain the decrease in signalling period and propagation speed with time, as well as observations on the structure of the spiral wave core in this self-organized excitable medium.
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spelling oxford-uuid:a98c6334-1a51-4d70-a06c-f83135b0dae72022-03-27T03:09:08ZDictyostelium discoideum: cellular self-organization in an excitable biological medium.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:a98c6334-1a51-4d70-a06c-f83135b0dae7EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford1995Höfer, TSherratt, JMaini, PThe dynamics which govern the establishment of pattern and form in multicellular organisms remain a key problem of developmental biology. We study this question in the case of morphogenesis during aggregation of the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum. Here detailed experimental information allows the formulation of a mechanistic model in which the central element is the coupling of the previously much-studied intracellular cyclic AMP signalling with the chemotactic cell response in cyclic AMP gradients. Numerical simulations of the model show quantitatively how signal relay, chemotactic movement and adaptation orchestrate the collective modes of cell signalling and migration in the aggregating cell layer. The interaction of chemotaxis with the cyclic AMP excitation waves causes the initially homogeneous cell layer to become unstable towards the formation of a branching cell stream pattern with close cell-cell contacts as observed in situ. The evolving cell morphology in turn leads to a pattern of non-homogeneous excitability of the medium and thus feeds back into the cAMP dynamics. This feedback can explain the decrease in signalling period and propagation speed with time, as well as observations on the structure of the spiral wave core in this self-organized excitable medium.
spellingShingle Höfer, T
Sherratt, J
Maini, P
Dictyostelium discoideum: cellular self-organization in an excitable biological medium.
title Dictyostelium discoideum: cellular self-organization in an excitable biological medium.
title_full Dictyostelium discoideum: cellular self-organization in an excitable biological medium.
title_fullStr Dictyostelium discoideum: cellular self-organization in an excitable biological medium.
title_full_unstemmed Dictyostelium discoideum: cellular self-organization in an excitable biological medium.
title_short Dictyostelium discoideum: cellular self-organization in an excitable biological medium.
title_sort dictyostelium discoideum cellular self organization in an excitable biological medium
work_keys_str_mv AT hofert dictyosteliumdiscoideumcellularselforganizationinanexcitablebiologicalmedium
AT sherrattj dictyosteliumdiscoideumcellularselforganizationinanexcitablebiologicalmedium
AT mainip dictyosteliumdiscoideumcellularselforganizationinanexcitablebiologicalmedium