Dictyostelium discoideum, oscillations

Geller, J. M. Brenner. 1978. The effect of 2,4-dinitrophenol on Dictyostelium discoideum oscillations. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 81 814-21. 

Y. Tang and H. G. Othmer, Excitation, oscillations and wave propagation in a G-protein-based model of signal transduction in Dictyostelium discoideum. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Land. B. Biol. Sci. 349, 179-195 (1995). 

These studies demonstrate the general mechanism of synchronization of biochemical systems, which I expect to be operative in even more complex systems, such as the mitochondrial respiration or the periodic activity of the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. As shown in a number of laboratories under suitable conditions mitochondrial respiration can break into self-sustained oscillations of ATP and ADP, NADH, cytochromes, and oxygen uptake as well as various ion transport and proton transport functions. It is important to note that mitochondrial respiration and oxidative phosphorylation under conditions of oscillations is open for the source, namely, oxygen, as well as with respect to a number of sink reactions producing water, carbon dioxide, and heat. 

Fig. 1. Oscillation of light scattering in Dictyostelium discoideum cell suspension.

As shown in the following chapters, the study of simple and complex oscillations in the signalling system used by Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae for intercellular communication confirms the general significance of the results established for the multiply regulated biochemical system. This model thus represents a three-variable prototype for analysing the transition from simple to complex oscillations in biochemical and cellular systems. 

Bumann, J., D. Malchow B. Wurster. 1986. Oscillations of Ca concentration during the cell differentiation of Dictyostelium discoideum. Their relation to oscillations in cyclic AMP and other components. Differentiation 31 85-91. 

Goldbeter, A. J.L. Martiel. 1983. A critical discussion of plausible models for relay emd oscillations of cyclic AMP in Dictyostelium discoideum. Lect. Notes Biomath. 49 173-88. 

Goldbeter, A. L.A. Segel. 1977. Unified mechanism for relay and oscillations of cyclic AMP in Dictyostelium discoideum. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 74 1543-7. 

Gottmann, K. C.J. Weijer. 1986. In situ measurements of external pH and optical density oscillations in Dictyostelium discoideum aggregates. J. Cell Biol. 102 1623-9. 

Monk, P.B. H.G. Othmer. 1989. Cyclic AMP oscillations in suspensions of Dictyostelium discoideum. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. 323 185-224. 

Nanjundiah, V. B. Wurster.1989. Is there a cyclic-AMP-independent oscillator in Dictyostelium discoideum In Cell to Cell Signalling From Experiments to Theoretical Models. A. Goldbeter, ed. Academic Press, London, pp. 489-502. 

Roos, W., C. Scheidegger G. Gerisch. 1977. Adenylate cyclase oscillations as signals for cell aggregation in Dictyostelium discoideum. Nature 266 259-61. 

Wurster, B. R. Mohn. 1987. Spike-shaped oscillations in the absence of measurable changes in cyclic AMP concentration in a mutant of Dictyostelium discoideum. J. Cell Science 87 723-30. 

Davies, E., Olliff, C, Wright, I., Woodward, A., and KeU, D., A weak pulsed magnetic field affects adenine nucleotide oscillations, and related parameters in aggregating Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae, Bioelectrochem. Bioenerg., 48, 149, 1999. 

It is interesting to compare the case of D. discoideum to that of the species Dictyostelium minutum, in which oscillations are also observed, but at a later stage of aggregation (Schaap, Konijn Van Haastert, 1984). The changes in the activity of phosphodiesterase and in the cAMP receptor observed in this species after starvation are shown in fig. 7.6. The rise in the enzyme and in the receptor is much slower than... 

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