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Wave Patterns in Cell Membrane and Actin Cortex Uncoupled from Chemotactic Signals

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Chemotaxis

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1407))

Abstract

When cells of Dictyostelium discoideum orientate in a gradient of chemoattractant, they are polarized into a protruding front pointing toward the source of attractant, and into a retracting tail. Under the control of chemotactic signal inputs, Ras is activated and PIP3 is synthesized at the front, while the PIP3-degrading phosphatase PTEN decorates the tail region. As a result of signal transduction, actin filaments assemble at the front into dendritic structures associated with the Arp2/3 complex, in contrast to the tail region where a loose actin meshwork is associated with myosin-II and cortexillin, an antiparallel actin-bundling protein. In axenically growing strains of D. discoideum, wave patterns built by the same components evolve in the absence of any external signal input. Since these autonomously generated patterns are constrained to the plane of the substrate-attached cell surface, they are optimally suited to the optical analysis of state transitions between front-like and tail-like states of the membrane and the actin cortex. Here, we describe imaging techniques using fluorescent proteins to probe for the state of the membrane, the reorganization of the actin network, and the dynamics of wave patterns.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Annette Müller-Taubenberger, LMU München, for PTEN -sf-GFP and are grateful for funds of the Max Planck Society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, Martinsried, D-82152, Germany

    Günther Gerisch & Mary Ecke

Authors
  1. Günther Gerisch
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  2. Mary Ecke
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Correspondence to Günther Gerisch .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nat Inst of Allergy& Infectious Dis, NIH, Laboratory of Immunogenetics, Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Tian Jin

  2. National Institutes of Health, Nat Inst Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism, Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Dale Hereld

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Gerisch, G., Ecke, M. (2016). Wave Patterns in Cell Membrane and Actin Cortex Uncoupled from Chemotactic Signals. In: Jin, T., Hereld, D. (eds) Chemotaxis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1407. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3480-5_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3480-5_6

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-3478-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3480-5

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