Spontaneous center formation in Dictyostelium discoideum.

ABSTRACT: Dictyostelium discoideum (D.d.) is a widely studied amoeba due to its capabilities of development, survival, and self-organization. During aggregation it produces and relays a chemical signal (cAMP) which shows spirals and target centers. Nevertheless, the natural emergence of these structures is still not well understood. We present a mechanism for creation of centers and target waves of cAMP in D.d. by adding cell inhomogeneity to a well known reaction-diffusion model of cAMP waves and we characterize its properties. We show how stable activity centers appear spontaneously in areas of higher cell density with the oscillation frequency of these centers depending on their density. The cAMP waves have the characteristic dispersion relation of trigger waves and a velocity which increases wit

SUBMITTER: Vidal-Henriquez E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6408547 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature