Multi-scale interactions in Dictyostelium discoideum aggregation

Cellular aggregation is essential for a wide range of phenomena in developmental biology, and a crucial event in the life-cycle of Dictyostelium discoideum. The current manuscript presents an analysis of multi-scale interactions involved in D. discoideum aggregation and non-aggregation events. The multi-scale fractal dimensions of a sequence of microscope images were used to estimate changing structure at different spatial scales. Three regions showing aggregation and three showing non-aggregation were considered. The results showed that both aggregation and non-aggregation regions were strongly multi-fractal. Analyses of the over-time relationships among nine scales of the generalized dimension, D(q), were conducted using vector autoregression and vector error-correction models. Both types of regions showed evidence that across-scale interactions serve to maintain the equilibrium of the system. Aggregation and non-aggregation regions also showed different patterns of effects of individual scales on other scales. Specifically, aggregation regions showed greater effects of both the smallest and largest scales on the smaller scale structures. The results suggest that multi-scale interactions are responsible for maintaining and altering the cellular structures during aggregation.