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Imaging G Protein-coupled Receptor-mediated Chemotaxis and its Signaling Events in Neutrophil-like HL60 Cells
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Distinct cell shapes determine accurate chemotaxis.

Luke Tweedy1, Börn Meier, Jürgen Stephan

  • 1Department of Life Sciences and Centre for Integrative Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom.

Scientific Reports
|September 7, 2013
PubMed
Summary

Starved Dictyostelium amoebae exhibit distinct cell shapes during chemotaxis, adapting movement modes to chemical gradient strength. These behaviors are crucial for accurate sensing at physical limits and appear conserved across cell types.

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Area of Science:

  • Cell Biology
  • Biophysics
  • Developmental Biology

Background:

  • Organismal behavior is often a strategy for environmental adaptation.
  • Higher organisms display stereotyped movements due to physiological limits.
  • Amoeboid cells, lacking such constraints, present challenges in identifying movement modes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate cell shape and movement in starved Dictyostelium amoebae during chemotaxis.
  • To determine if diverse amoeboid cell shapes can be reduced to fundamental modes of variation.
  • To explore the relationship between cell shape, chemical gradients, and sensing accuracy.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized microfluidic chambers for controlled chemoattractant gradients.
  • Observed and analyzed cell shape and movement patterns in Dictyostelium discoideum.
  • Employed computational modeling and drug treatments to investigate underlying mechanisms.

Main Results:

  • A wide range of amoeboid cell shapes can be categorized into a few key modes of variation.
  • Dictyostelium amoebae adopt distinct movement modes and cell shapes in response to different chemical gradient strengths.
  • Specific cell morphologies are associated with navigating shallow, challenging chemical gradients.
  • Cellular behaviors are intrinsically linked to accurate sensing at the physical limit, as revealed by modeling and drug studies.

Conclusions:

  • Cellular behavior and shape in amoebae are not random but follow predictable modes.
  • Distinct cell shapes are employed to optimize sensing and migration under varying chemical conditions.
  • These shape-behavior relationships are likely conserved across diverse cell types, suggesting fundamental biological principles.