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Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Studying the Protein Quality Control System of D. discoideum Using Temperature-controlled Live Cell Imaging
Published on: December 2, 2016
Flow-driven waves and phase-locked self-organization in quasi-one-dimensional colonies of Dictyostelium discoideum
A Gholami1, O Steinbock2, V Zykov1
1Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Am Fassberg 17, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.
Abstract:
We report experiments on flow-driven waves in a microfluidic channel containing the signaling slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. The observed cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) wave trains developed spontaneously in the presence of flow and propagated with the velocity proportional to the imposed flow velocity. The period of the wave trains was independent of the flow velocity. Perturbations of flow-driven waves via external periodic pulses of the signaling agent cAMP induced 1∶1, 2∶1, 3∶1, and 1∶2 frequency responses, reminiscent of Arnold tongues in forced oscillatory systems. We expect our observations to be generic to active media governed by reaction-diffusion-advection dynamics, where spatially bound autocatalytic processes occur under flow conditions.
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