Phospholipase Cδ regulates germination of Dictyostelium spores

BACKGROUND: Many eukaryotes, including plants and fungi make spores that resist severe environmental stress. The micro-organism Dictyostelium contains a single phospholipase C gene (PLC); deletion of the gene has no effect on growth, cell movement and differentiation. In this report we show that PLC is essential to sense the environment of food-activated spores. RESULTS: Plc-null spores germinate at alkaline pH, reduced temperature or increased osmolarity, conditions at which the emerging amoebae can not grow. In contrast, food-activated wild-type spores return to dormancy till conditions in the environment allow growth. The analysis of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP(3)) levels and the effect of added IP(3) uncover an unexpected mechanism how PLC regulates spore germination: i) deletion of PLC induces the enhanced activity of an IP(5) phosphatase leading to high IP(3) levels in plc-null cells; ii) in wild-type spores unfavourable conditions inhibit PLC leading to a reduction of IP(3) levels; addition of exogenous IP(3) to wild-type spores induces germination at unfavourable conditions; iii) in plc-null spores IP(3) levels remain high, also at unfavourable environmental conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The results imply that environmental conditions regulate PLC activity and that IP(3) induces spore germination; the uncontrolled germination of plc-null spores is not due to a lack of PLC activity but to the constitutive activation of an alternative IP(3)-forming pathway

Unified control of amoeboid pseudopod extension in multiple organisms by branched F-actin in the front and parallel F-actin/myosin in the cortex

The trajectory of moving eukaryotic cells depends on the kinetics and direction of extending pseudopods. The direction of pseudopods has been well studied to unravel mechanisms for chemotaxis, wound healing and inflammation. However, the kinetics of pseudopod extension-when and why do pseudopods start and stop- is equally important, but is largely unknown. Here the START and STOP of about 4000 pseudopods was determined in four different species, at four conditions and in nine mutants (fast amoeboids Dictyostelium and neutrophils, slow mesenchymal stem cells, and fungus B.d. chytrid with pseudopod and a flagellum). The START of a first pseudopod is a random event with a probability that is species-specific (23%/s for neutrophils). In all species and conditions, the START of a second pseudopod is strongly inhibited by the extending first pseudopod, which depends on parallel filamentous actin/myosin in the cell cortex. Pseudopods extend at a constant rate by polymerization of branched F-actin at the pseudopod tip, which requires the Scar complex. The STOP of pseudopod extension is induced by multiple inhibitory processes that evolve during pseudopod extension and mainly depend on the increasing size of the pseudopod. Surprisingly, no differences in pseudopod kinetics are detectable between polarized, unpolarized or chemotactic cells, and also not between different species except for small differences in numerical values. This suggests that the analysis has uncovered the fundament of cell movement with distinct roles for stimulatory branched F-actin in the protrusion and inhibitory parallel F-actin in the contractile cortex

A Model for a Correlated Random Walk Based on the Ordered Extension of Pseudopodia

Cell migration in the absence of external cues is well described by a correlated random walk. Most single cells move by extending protrusions called pseudopodia. To deduce how cells walk, we have analyzed the formation of pseudopodia by Dictyostelium cells. We have observed that the formation of pseudopodia is highly ordered with two types of pseudopodia: First, de novo formation of pseudopodia at random positions on the cell body, and therefore in random directions. Second, pseudopod splitting near the tip of the current pseudopod in alternating right/left directions, leading to a persistent zig-zag trajectory. Here we analyzed the probability frequency distributions of the angles between pseudopodia and used this information to design a stochastic model for cell movement. Monte Carlo simulations show that the critical elements are the ratio of persistent splitting pseudopodia relative to random de novo pseudopodia, the Left/Right alternation, the angle between pseudopodia and the variance of this angle. Experiments confirm predictions of the model, showing reduced persistence in mutants that are defective in pseudopod splitting and in mutants with an irregular cell surface

Sensory Adaptation of Dictyostelium discoideum Cells to Chemotactic Signals

Postvegetative Dictyostelium discoideum cells react chemotactically to gradients of cAMP, folic acid, and pterin. In the presence of a constant concentration of 10-5 M cAMP cells move at random. They still are able to respond to superimposed gradients of cAMP, although the response is less efficient than without the high background level of cAMP. Cells which are accommodated to 10-5 M cAMP do not react to a gradient of cAMP if the mean cAMP concentration is decreasing with time. This indicates the involvement of adaptation in the detection of chemotactic gradients: cells adapt to the mean concentration of chemoattractant and respond to positive deviations from the mean concentration. Cells adapted to high cAMP concentrations react normally to gradients of folic acid or pterin. Adaptation to one of these compounds does not affect the response to the other attractants. This suggests that cAMP, folic acid, and pterin are detected by different receptors, and that adaptation is localized at a step in the transduction process before the signals from these receptors coincide into one pathway. I discuss the implications of adaptation for chemotaxis and cell aggregation

The Cell Density Factor CMF Regulates the Chemoattractant Receptor cAR1 in Dictyostelium

Starving Dictyostelium cells aggregate by chemotaxis to cAMP when a secreted protein called conditioned medium factor (CMF) reaches a threshold concentration. Cells expressing CMF antisense mRNA fail to aggregate and do not transduce signals from the cAMP receptor. Signal transduction and aggregation are restored by adding recombinant CMF. We show here that two other cAMP-induced events, the formation of a slow dissociating form of the cAMP receptor and the loss of ligand binding, which is the first step of ligand-induced receptor sequestration, also require CMF. Vegetative cells have very few CMF and cAMP receptors, while starved cells possess ~40,000 receptors for CMF and cAMP. Transformants overexpressing the cAMP receptor gene cAR1 show a 10-fold increase of [3H]cAMP binding and a similar increase of [125I]CMF binding; disruption of the cAR1 gene abolishes both cAMP and CMF binding. In wild-type cells, downregulation of cAR1 with high levels of cAMP also downregulates CMF binding, and CMF similarly downregulates cAMP and CMF binding. This suggests that the cAMP binding and CMF binding are closely linked. Binding of ~200 molecules of CMF to starved cells affects the affinity of the majority of the cAR1 cAMP receptors within 2 min, indicating that an amplifying mechanism allows one activated CMF receptor to regulate many cARs. In cells lacking the G-protein β subunit, cAMP induces a loss of cAMP binding, but not CMF binding, while CMF induces a reduction of CMF binding without affecting cAMP binding, suggesting that the linkage of the cell density-sensing CMF receptor and the chemoattractant cAMP receptor is through a G-protein.

Symmetry Breaking during Cell Movement in the Context of Excitability, Kinetic Fine-Tuning and Memory of Pseudopod Formation

The path of moving eukaryotic cells depends on the kinetics and direction of extending pseudopods. Amoeboid cells constantly change their shape with pseudopods extending in different directions. Detailed analysis has revealed that time, place and direction of pseudopod extension are not random, but highly ordered with strong prevalence for only one extending pseudopod, with defined life-times, and with reoccurring events in time and space indicative of memory. Important components are Ras activation and the formation of branched F-actin in the extending pseudopod and inhibition of pseudopod formation in the contractile cortex of parallel F-actin/myosin. In biology, order very often comes with symmetry. In this essay, I discuss cell movement and the dynamics of pseudopod extension from the perspective of symmetry and symmetry changes of Ras activation and the formation of branched F-actin in the extending pseudopod. Combining symmetry of Ras activation with kinetics and memory of pseudopod extension results in a refined model of amoeboid movement that appears to be largely conserved in the fast moving Dictyostelium and neutrophils, the slow moving mesenchymal stem cells and the fungus B.d. chytrid

A Model for cAMP-mediated cGMP Response in Dictyostelium discoideum

In Dictyostelium discoideum extracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP), as shown by previous studies, induces a transient accumulation of intracellular cyclic guanosine-5'-monophosphate (cGMP), which peaks at 10 s and recovers basal levels at 30 s after stimulation, even with persistent cAMP stimulation. Additional investigations have shown that the cAMP-mediated cGMP response is built up from surface cAMP receptor-mediated activation of guanylyl cyclase and hydrolysis of cGMP by phosphodiesterase. The regulation of these activities was measured in detail on a seconds time-scale, demonstrating complex adaptation of the receptor, allosteric activation of cGMP-phosphodiesterase by cGMP, and potent inhibition of guanylyl cyclase by Ca2+. In this paper we present a computer model that combines all experimental data on the cGMP response. The model is used to investigate the contribution of each structural and regulatory component in the final cGMP response. Four models for the activation and adaptation of the receptor are compared with experimental observations. Only one model describes the magnitude and kinetics of the response accurately. The effect of Ca2+ on the cGMP response is simulated by changing the Ca2+ concentrations outside the cell (Ca2+ influx) and in stores (IP3-mediated release) and changing phospholipase C activity. The simulations show that Ca2+ mainly determines the magnitude of the cGMP accumulation; simulations are in good agreement with experiments on the effect of Ca2+ in electropermeabilized cells. Finally, when cGMP-phosphodiesterase activity is deleted from the model, the simulated cGMP response is elevated and prolonged, which is in close agreement with the experimental observations in mutant stmF that lacks this enzyme activity. We conclude that the computer model provides a good description of the observed response, suggesting that the main structural and regulatory components have been identified