An electrophysiological investigation of the migrating grex of the slime mould, Dictyostelium discoideum, has been carried out with two aims in view. It was hoped to obtain information which would be relevant to, first, the formation and regulation of cellular pattern in the grex, and secondly, the problem of grex movement.
During migration the grex develops a simple, linear cellular pattern. The cells at the front become the so-called ‘prestalk’ cells which will form the stalk of the fruiting body while those at the back become ‘prespore’ cells and form spores at culmination (Raper, 1940; Bonner, 1944; Bonner & Slifkin, 1949). Moreover, this cellular pattern is capable of polarized regulation. Raper (1940) has shown that portions isolated from the front or back of the grex are capable of forming normally proportioned fruiting bodies.
A number of workers have suggested that bio-electric potentials may be involved in regulation of linear cellular pattern.