dictyNews

Electronic Edition

Volume 43, number 15

July 14, 2017



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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 [[log in to unmask]]

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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 [[log in to unmask]]

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[End dictyNews, volume 43, number 15]