Modelling Morphogenesis: From Single Cells to Crawling Slugs.

We present a three-dimensional hybrid cellular automata (CA)/partial differential equation (PDE) model that allows for the study of morphogenesis in simple cellular systems. We apply the model to the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum ‘‘from single cells to crawling slug’’. Using simple local interactions we can achieve the basic morphogenesis with only three processes: production of and chemotaxis to cAMP and cellular adhesion. The interplay of these processes causes the amoebae to spatially self-organize leading to the complex behaviour of stream and mound formation, cell sorting and slug migration all without any change of parameters during the complete morphogenetic process. 7 1997 Academic Press Limited

[1]  L. Segel,et al.  Initiation of slime mold aggregation viewed as an instability. , 1970, Journal of theoretical biology.

[2]  J. Gross,et al.  Signal emission and signal propagation during early aggregation in Dictyostelium discoideum. , 1976, Journal of cell science.

[3]  S. Barondes,et al.  Direct measurement of species-specific cohesion in cellular slime molds , 1978, The Journal of cell biology.

[4]  T. Lacalli,et al.  The regulatory capacity of Turing's model for morphogenesis, with application to slime moulds. , 1978, Journal of theoretical biology.

[5]  S. A. MacKay.  Computer simulation of aggregation in Dictyostelium discoideum. , 1978, Journal of cell science.

[6]  H Parnas,et al.  A computer simulation of pulsatile aggregation in Dictyostelium discoideum. , 1978, Journal of theoretical biology.

[7]  J. Sternfeld.  Evidence for differential cellular adhesion as the mechanism of sorting-out of various cellular slime mold species. , 1979, Journal of embryology and experimental morphology.

[8]  H. Meinhardt,et al.  A model for the prestalk/prespore patterning in the slug of the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. , 1983, Differentiation; research in biological diversity.

[9]  Youichi Kobuchi,et al.  A spatial pattern formation model for Dictyostelium discoideum , 1986 .

[10]  K L Williams,et al.  Cell migrations during morphogenesis: Some clues from the slug of Dictyostelium discoideum , 1986, BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology.

[11]  J. T. Bonner,et al.  How the Dictyostelium Discoideum Grex Crawls , 1986 .

[12]  H G Othmer,et al.  Differentiation, cell sorting and proportion regulation in the slug stage of Dictyostelium discoideum. , 1986, Journal of theoretical biology.

[13]  A Goldbeter,et al.  A Model Based on Receptor Desensitization for Cyclic AMP Signaling in Dictyostelium Cells. , 1987, Biophysical journal.

[14]  T. Umeda.  A MATHEMATICAL MODEL FOR CELL SORTING, MIGRATION AND SHAPE IN THE SLUG STAGE OF DICTYOSTELIUM DISCOIDEUM , 1989 .

[15]  R. Kay,et al.  Morphogen hunting in Dictyostelium. , 1989, Development.

[16]  John J. Tyson,et al.  Spiral waves of cyclic amp in a model of slime mold aggregation , 1989 .

[17]  J. Williams,et al.  Formation and anatomy of the prestalk zone of Dictyostelium. , 1989, Development.

[18]  Reynolds,et al.  Streaming instability of aggregating slime mold amoebae. , 1991, Physical review letters.

[19]  C J Weijer,et al.  Three-dimensional scroll waves organize Dictyostelium slugs. , 1992, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[20]  D R Soll,et al.  Behavior of Dictyostelium amoebae is regulated primarily by the temporal dynamic of the natural cAMP wave. , 1992, Cell motility and the cytoskeleton.

[21]  Kessler,et al.  Pattern formation in Dictyostelium via the dynamics of cooperative biological entities. , 1993, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics.

[22]  C. Weijer,et al.  Analysis of cell cycle progression during the development of Dictyostelium and its relationship to differentiation. , 1993, Developmental biology.

[23]  P. Hogeweg,et al.  Simulation of dictyostelium discoideum aggregation via reaction-diffusion model. , 1994, Physical review letters.

[24]  J A Sherratt,et al.  Dictyostelium discoideum: cellular self-organization in an excitable biological medium , 1995, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[25]  P. Hogeweg,et al.  Spatial pattern formation during aggregation of the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum. , 1996, Journal of theoretical biology.