Reaction–diffusion waves of actin filament polymerization/depolymerization in Dictyostelium pseudopodium extension and cell locomotion Original Research Article

Cell surface movements and the intracellular spatial patterns and dynamics of actin filament (F-actin) were investigated in living and formalin-fixed cells of Dictyostelium discoideum by confocal microscopy. Excitation waves of F-actin assembly developed and propagated several micrometers at up to 26 μm/min in cells which had been intracellularly loaded with fluorescently labeled actin monomer. Wave propagation and extinction corresponded with the initiation and attenuation of pseudopodium extension and cell advance, respectively. The identification of chemical waves was supported by the ring, sphere, spiral and scroll wave patterns, which were observed in the extensions of fixed cells stained with phalloidin-rhodamine, and by the similar, asymmetrical [F-actin] distribution in wavefronts in living and fixed cells. These F-actin patterns and dynamics in Dictyostelium provide evidence for a new supramolecular state of actin, which propagates as a self-organized, reaction–diffusion wave of reversible F-actin assembly and affects pseudopodium extension. Actin’s properties of oscillation and self-organization might also fundamentally determine the nature of the eukaryotic cell’s reactions of adaptation, timing and signal response.