Biomedical subjects

B Varnum-Finney

Publications and source records attributed to B Varnum-Finney.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1988

Adaptation in the motility response to cAMP in Dictyostelium discoideum.

When developing amebae of Dictyostelium discoideum are treated with constant concentrations of cAMP above 10(-8)M, the average rate of motility is depressed, with maximum inhibition at roughly 10(-6)M. It is demonstrated that shifting the concentration of cAMP from 0 M to concentrations ranging from 10(-8) to 10(-6)M in a perfusion chamber results in the immediate inhibition of motility. After shifting from 0 M to 10(-8) or 10(-7)M, the rate of cell motility remains low, then rebounds to a higher level, exhibiting a standard adaptation response. No adaptation is exhibited after a shift from 0 M to 10(-6)M, a concentration resulting in maximum inhibition. It is demonstrated that the level of inhibition and the extent of the adaptation period are dependent upon the concentration of cAMP after the shift, and that submaximal inhibition is additive. The characteristics of adaptation in this motility response are very similar to the characteristics of adaptation for the relay system and phosphorylation of the putative cAMP receptor.

Chemotaxis↗

PubMed1988

"Dynamic Morphology System": a method for quantitating changes in shape, pseudopod formation, and motion in normal and mutant amoebae of Dictyostelium discoideum.

An automated, video-driven system was used to measure approximately 30 parameters of cell motion and accompanying changes in shape. This "Dynamic Morphology System" is based upon the Expertvision Motion Analysis System and is driven by a SUN computer. With the aid of this system, amoebic movement and shape changes were compared for vegetative wild-type Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae and a motility mutant, Mo-1. The measured parameters included speed, angle change, bearing, length, width, roundness, boundary flow, and curvature; and cell behavior was visualized monitoring amoebic tracks, difference pictures, and a newly developed ring expansion plot. Wild-type cells remained elongated, moved continuously and retained polarity throughout migration. In contrast, Mo-1 did not translocate, was round rather than elongated, formed bulges rather than elongated pseudopods, and exhibited no polarity. In contrast to the anterior f-action distribution in wild-type cells, f-actin in Mo-1 was distributed evenly as a shell just under the entire plasma membrane, a distribution consistent with the lack of polar cytoplasmic expansion.

Actins↗

PubMed1987

Amebae of Dictyostelium discoideum respond to an increasing temporal gradient of the chemoattractant cAMP with a reduced frequency of turning: evidence for a temporal mechanism in ameboid chemotaxis.

In an aggregation territory of Dictyostelium discoideum, outwardly moving, nondissipating waves of the chemoattractant cAMP sweep across each ameba. At the front of each wave, an ameba experiences an increasing temporal and a positive spatial gradient of cAMP. At the back of a wave, an ameba experiences a decreasing temporal and a negative spatial gradient of cAMP. Employing a perfusion chamber, we have mimicked the temporal dynamics of these waves in the absence of a spatial gradient and demonstrated that the frequency of lateral pseudopod formation and the frequency of turning are dramatically affected by the direction and dynamics of the temporal gradient. In addition, since an ameba will move in a directed fashion up a shallow, nonpulsatile gradient of cAMP, we also mimicked the increasing temporal gradient generated by an ameba moving up a shallow spatial gradient. The frequency of lateral pseudopod formation and the frequency of turning were depressed. Together, these results demonstrate that amebae can assess the direction of a temporal gradient of chemoattractant in the absence of a spatial gradient and alter both the frequency of pseudopod extension and turning, accordingly. Although these results do not rule out the involvement of a spatial mechanism in assessing a spatial gradient, they strongly suggest that the temporal dynamics of a cAMP wave or the temporal gradient generated by an ameba moving through a spatial gradient may play a major role in chemotaxis.

Cell Movement↗

PubMed1987

Characterization of a timing mutant of Dictyostelium discoideum which exhibits "high frequency switching".

The preaggregative period of Dictyostelium discoideum is composed of two sequential rate-limiting components. The timing mutant FM-1 exhibits a decrease in the length of the preaggregative period and the interval between the maxifinger and early culminate II stage. In contrast, it is normal in all aspects of growth, in the sequence of morphogenetic stages, in spore formation, in the capacity to rapidly recapitulate morphogenesis, and in the erasure event and subsequent program of dedifferentiation. By the reciprocal shift experiment, it is demonstrated that FM-1 is completely missing the first of the two rate-limiting components comprising the preaggregative period. The FM-1 mutation is heritable and behaves as a single mutation mapping to linkage group II. However, the FM-1 variant switches at relatively high frequency to several other timing phenotypes with longer preaggregative periods which in turn switch at high frequency. The FM-1 phenotype is considered in terms of timing regulation, and the process of high frequency switching between timing phenotypes is compared to other newly discovered switching systems.

Animals↗

PubMed1987

HLAMP--a conjugate of hippuryllysine and AMP which contains a phosphoamide bond--stimulates chemotaxis in Dictyostelium discoideum.

A conjugate of hippuryllysine (HP) and adenylic acid was synthesized and purified. The structure of the conjugate, hippuryllysyl(N-epsilon-5'-phospho)adenosine (HLAMP) was established using 31P nuclear magnetic resonance, UV spectroscopy, acid/base lability, and enzyme digestion with AMP deaminase, alkaline phosphatase, 5'-nucleotidase, and a phosphoamidase activity recently identified in Dictyostelium discoideum. The results indicate that HLAMP contains a phosphoamide bond between the phosphate of AMP and the epsilon amino group of HL. Employing a microdroplet assay to assess chemotactic activity, HLAMP was found to be a potent chemoattractant of 7-h developing amoebae of D. discoideum. Other conjugates, including lysine-AMP (LAMP), tuftsin-AMP (TAMP) and avidin-AMP (AVAMP), as well as the degradation products of HLAMP (HL, AMP, and lysine) exhibited no chemotactic activity. The molecular structure of HLAMP is compared to that of other known chemoattractants of the cellular slime molds, and possible chemotactic receptors for HLAMP are considered.

Chemotaxis↗