A new traveling wave phenomenon of Dictyostelium in the presence of cAMP

The emergence of wave patterns in chemical and biological systems is of interest for the understanding of development, differentiation, signaling, and other phenomena. In this work we report a new type of wave pattern - called the “global wave” - which was observed in populations of Dictyostelium discoideum cells exposed to an excess of cyclic adenosine- 3′, 5′- monophosphate (cAMP) added to the supporting agar. It has been found that the addition of different amounts of cAMP to the agar leads to important deviations from the standard course of aggregation: (i) the formation and propagation of a global wave that has not been observed before; (ii) the delayed onset or absence of cAMP waves patterning; (iii) an atypical mechanism of cells clustering; and (iv) a faster or incomplete developmental cycle. We suggest that the global wave is a chemotactic response of the Dictyostelium cells to a wave of the cAMP concentration.