Modeling the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum

The cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum is a fascinating organism, not only for biologists, but also for physicists. Since the Belousov-Zhabo tinskii reaction pattern, a well-known non-linear phenomenon in chemistry, was observed during aggregation of Dictyostelium amoebae, Dictyostelium has been one of the major subjects of non-linear dynamics studies. Macroscopic theory, such as continuous cell density approximation, has been a common a pproach to studying pattern formation since the pioneering work of Turing. Recently, promising microscopic approaches, such as the cellular dynamics m ethod, have emerged. They have shown that Dictyostelium is useful as a mode l system in biology. The synchronization mechanism of oscillatory productio n of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate in Dictyostelium is discussed in detail to show how it is a universal feature that can explain synchronizati on in other organisms.