Modulation of the reaction rate of regulating protein induces large morphological and motional change of amoebic cell

Morphologies of moving amoebae are categorized into two types. One is the neutrophil type in which the long axis of cell roughly coincides with its moving direction. This type of cell extends a leading edge at the front and retracts a narrow tail at the rear, whose shape has been often drawn as a typical amoeba in textbooks. The other one is the keratocyte type with widespread lamellipodia along the front side arc. Short axis of cell in this type roughly coincides with its moving direction. In order to understand what kind of molecular feature causes conversion between two types of morphologies, and how two typical morphologies are maintained, a mathematical model of amoebic cells is developed. This model describes movement of cell and intracellular reactions of activator, inhibitor and actin filaments in a unified way. It is found that the producing rate of activator is a key factor of conversion between two types. This model also explains the observed data that the keratocyte type cells tend to rapidly move along a straight line. The neutrophil type cells move along a straight line when the moving velocity is small, but they show fluctuated motions deviating from a line when they move as fast as the keratocyte type cells. Efficient energy consumption in the neutrophil type cells is predicted. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.