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. 1998 Dec;75(6):2615–2625. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(98)77707-0

Possible cooperation of differential adhesion and chemotaxis in mound formation of Dictyostelium.

Y Jiang 1, H Levine 1, J Glazier 1
PMCID: PMC1299937  PMID: 9826586

Abstract

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.

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Selected References

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