Possible roles of the endocytic cycle in cell motility

Starving, highly motile Dictyostelium cells maintain an active endocytic cycle, taking up their surface about every 11 minutes. Cell motility depends on a functional NSF (N-ethylmaleimide sensitive factor) protein--also essential for endocytosis and membrane trafficking generally--and we, therefore, investigated possible ways in which the endocytic cycle might be required for cell movement. First, NSF, and presumably membrane trafficking, are not required for the initial polarization of the leading edge in a cyclic-AMP gradient. Second, we can detect no evidence for membrane flow from the leading edge, as photobleached or photoactivated marks in the plasma membrane move forward roughly in step with the leading edge, rather than backwards from it. Third, we find that the surface area of a cell--measured from confocal reconstructions--constantly fluctuates during movement as it projects pseudopodia and otherwise changes shape; increases of 20-30% can often occur over a few minutes. These fluctuations cannot be explained by reciprocal changes in filopodial surface area and they substantially exceed the 2-3% by which membranes can stretch. We propose that the endocytic cycle has a key function in motility by allowing adjustment of cell surface area to match changes in shape and that, without this function, movement is severely impaired.