Quantitative Analysis of \textit{Dictyostelium Discoideum} Chemotaxis

ORAL

Abstract

We used microfluidic tools to expose \textit{Dictyostelium discoideum} to stationary spatial gradients of the chemoattractant cyclic adenosine 3',5' monophosphate (cAMP). At a cAMP gradient of $10^{-2}$ ${\rm nM}/\mu{\rm m}$, the chemotactic velocity reached a plateau, which continued for gradients up to 1 ${\rm nM}/\mu{\rm m}$. Our measurements agree with [Song at al, Eur. J. Cell Biol., 85(10):981]. We also found that the chemotactic velocity was highly correlated with the cell's polarization. We present a model based on a generalized Langevin equation that provides good agreement with the measured data.

*This work was supported by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

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Authors

  • Gabriel Amselem

    • MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen

  • Matthias Theves

    • MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen

  • Albert Bae

    • MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen and LASSP, Cornell University, Ithaca
    • LASSP, Cornell University, Ithaca and MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen
    • LASSP, Cornell University, Ithaca and MPI for Dynamics and Selforganization, Goettingen

  • Carsten Beta

    • Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam and MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen

  • Eberhard Bodenschatz

    • Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization
    • MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen and LASSP, Cornell University, Ithaca
    • LASSP, Cornell University, Ithaca and MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen
    • LASSP, Cornell University, Ithaca and MPI for Dynamics and Selforganization, Goettingen