Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
dictyNews Volume 31 Number 10
dictyNews
Electronic Edition
Volume 31, number 10
September 26, 2008
Please submit abstracts of your papers as soon as they have been
accepted for publication by sending them to dicty@northwestern.edu
or by using the form at
http://dictybase.org/db/cgi-bin/dictyBase/abstract_submit.
Upon publication of your paper, please send strains and plamids to
the Dicty Stock Center. For more information see
http://dictybase.org/StockCenter/Deposit.html.
Back issues of dictyNews, the Dicty Reference database and other
useful information is available at dictyBase - http://dictybase.org.
=========
Abstracts
=========
A 3-D model used to explore how cell adhesion and stiffness affect
cell sorting and movement in multicellular systems
Eirikur Palsson
Department of Biology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British
Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
Journal of Theoretical Biology
Volume 254, Issue 1, 7 September 2008, Pages 1-13
A three-dimensional mathematical model is used to determine the effects
of adhesion and cell signalling on cell movements during the aggregation
and slug stages of Dictyostelium discoideum (Dd) and to visualize cell
sorting. The building blocks of the model are individual deformable
ellipsoidal cells, where movement depends on internal parameter state
(cell size and stiffness) and on external cues from the neighboring
cells, extracellular matrix, and chemical signals. Cell movement and
deformation are calculated from equations of motion using the total
force acting on each cell, ensuring that forces are balanced. The
simulations show that the sorting patterns of prestalk and prespore
cells, emerging during the slug stage, depend critically on the type
of cell adhesion and not just on chemotactic differences between
cells. This occurs because cell size and stiffness can prevent the
otherwise faster cells from passing the slower cells. The patterns
are distinctively different when the prestalk cells are more or less
adhesive than the prespore cells. These simulations suggest that
sorting is not solely due to differential chemotaxis, and that differences
in both adhesion strength and type between different cell types play
a very significant role, both in Dictyostelium and other systems.
Keywords: Dictyostelium; Differential cell adhesion; Pattern formation;
Ellipsoidal cells; Deformable cells; Prestalk
Submitted by: Eirikur Palsson [epalsson@sfu.ca]
==============================================================
[End dictyNews, volume 31, number 10]
