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dictyNews Volume 43 Number 15
dictyNews
Electronic Edition
Volume 43, number 15
July 14, 2017
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.
Back issues of dictyNews, the Dicty Reference database and other
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Abstracts
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Image based modeling of bleb site selection
Sharon Collier1, Peggy Paschke2, Robert R. Kay2, Till Bretschneider3
1: MOAC Doctoral Training Centre, University of Warwick,
Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
2: Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology,
Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK
3: Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick,
Coventry CV4 7AL, UK
Scientific Reports, accepted
Cells often employ fast, pressure-driven blebs to move through tissues
or against mechanical resistance, but how bleb sites are selected and
directed to the cell front remains an open question. Previously, we
found that chemotaxing Dictyostelium cells preferentially bleb from
concave regions, where membrane tension facilitates membrane-cortex
detachment. Now, through a novel modeling approach based on actual
cell contours, we use cell geometry to predict where blebs will form in
migrating cells. We find that cell geometry alone, and by implication,
physical forces in the membrane, is sufficient to predict the location of
blebs in rounded cells moving in a highly resistive environment. The
model is less successful with more polarized cells moving against less
resistance, but can be greatly improved by positing a front-to-back
gradient in membrane-cortex adhesion. In accord with this prediction,
we find that Talin, which links membrane and cortex, forms such a
front-to-back gradient. Thus our model provides a means of dissecting
out the role of physical forces in controlling where blebs form, and shows
that in certain circumstances they could be the major determining factor.
submitted by: Till Bretschneider [T.Bretschneider@warwick.ac.uk]
———————————————————————————————————————
Functional Analysis of Proteins Involved in Neurodegeneration Using
the Model Organism Dictyostelium: Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and
Batten Disease
Michael A. Myre, Robert J. Huber and Danton H. O’Day
Michael A. Myre, Department of Biological Sciences, Kennedy College
of Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
Robert J. Huber, Department of Biology, Trent University, Peterborough,
Ontario, Canada K9L 0G2
Danton H. O’Day, Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G5; Department of Biology,
University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L 1C6
Molecular-Genetic and Statistical Techniques for Behavioral and Neural
Research, Wim E. Crusio and Robert T. Gerlai (Editors), Elsevier,
in press July 11, 2017
Many neurodegenerative disorders, although related by their destruction
of brain function, begin at the cellular level with pathogenic mechanisms
that are caused by altered function, expression, or mis-localization of the
mutant protein. Understanding the earliest events that lead to neuronal
dysfunction or loss is critical to developing therapies to treat these
currently incurable diseases. In this chapter, we will review the literature
on the use of Dictyostelium discoideum as a model system for studying
the normal functions of proteins linked to neurodegeneration, specifically
Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Batten disease. Unlike immortalized
mammalian cell lines, the life cycle of this model eukaryote includes
both single-cell and multicellular phases, thus allowing for the study of
normal protein function in an organism that retains all of its dynamic
physiological processes. The state of current knowledge and future
potential of using Dictyostelium to study the mechanisms underlying
neurodegeneration are discussed.
submitted by: Danton O'Day [danton.oday@utoronto.ca]
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[End dictyNews, volume 43, number 15]
