Chemotaxis: a feedback-based computational model robustly predicts multiple aspects of real cell behaviour.

ABSTRACT: The mechanism of eukaryotic chemotaxis remains unclear despite intensive study. The most frequently described mechanism acts through attractants causing actin polymerization, in turn leading to pseudopod formation and cell movement. We recently proposed an alternative mechanism, supported by several lines of data, in which pseudopods are made by a self-generated cycle. If chemoattractants are present, they modulate the cycle rather than directly causing actin polymerization. The aim of this work is to test the explanatory and predictive powers of such pseudopod-based models to predict the complex behaviour of cells in chemotaxis. We have now tested the effectiveness of this mechanism using a computational model of cell movement and chemotaxis based on pseudopod autocatalysis. The model rep

SUBMITTER: Neilson MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3096608 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature