scholarly journals RasC Plays a Role in Transduction of Temporal Gradient Information in the Cyclic-AMP Wave of Dictyostelium discoideum

2004 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 646-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Wessels ◽  
Rebecca Brincks ◽  
Spencer Kuhl ◽  
Vesna Stepanovic ◽  
Karla J. Daniels ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cyclic Amp ◽  
Myosin Ii ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Expression Array ◽  
Temporal Gradient ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Myosin I ◽  
The Individual

ABSTRACT To define the role that RasC plays in motility and chemotaxis, the behavior of a rasC null mutant, rasC −, in buffer and in response to the individual spatial, temporal, and concentration components of a natural cyclic AMP (cAMP) wave was analyzed by using computer-assisted two-dimensional and three-dimensional motion analysis systems. These quantitative studies revealed that rasC − cells translocate at the same velocity and exhibit chemotaxis up spatial gradients of cAMP with the same efficiency as control cells. However, rasC − cells exhibit defects in maintaining anterior-posterior polarity along the substratum and a single anterior pseudopod when translocating in buffer in the absence of an attractant. rasC − cells also exhibit defects in their responses to both the increasing and decreasing temporal gradients of cAMP in the front and the back of a wave. These defects result in the inability of rasC − cells to exhibit chemotaxis in a natural wave of cAMP. The inability to respond normally to temporal gradients of cAMP results in defects in the organization of the cytoskeleton, most notably in the failure of both F actin and myosin II to exit the cortex in response to the decreasing temporal gradient of cAMP in the back of the wave. While the behavioral defect in the front of the wave is similar to that of the myoA −/myoF − myosin I double mutant, the behavioral and cytoskeletal defects in the back of the wave are similar to those of the S13A myosin II regulatory light-chain phosphorylation mutant. Expression array data support the premise that the behavioral defects exhibited by the rasC − mutant are the immediate result of the absence of RasC function.

scholarly journals The Internal Phosphodiesterase RegA Is Essential for the Suppression of Lateral Pseudopods duringDictyosteliumChemotaxis

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2803-2820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah J. Wessels ◽  
Hui Zhang ◽  
Joshua Reynolds ◽  
Karla Daniels ◽  
Paul Heid ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mutant Cell ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Spatial Gradient ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Camp Phosphodiesterase ◽  
Temporal Gradient ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Normal Manner ◽  
Analysis System

Dictyostelium strains in which the gene encoding the cytoplasmic cAMP phosphodiesterase RegA is inactivated form small aggregates. This defect was corrected by introducing copies of the wild-type regA gene, indicating that the defect was solely the consequence of the loss of the phosphodiesterase. Using a computer-assisted motion analysis system,regA−mutant cells were found to show little sense of direction during aggregation. When labeled wild-type cells were followed in a field of aggregatingregA−cells, they also failed to move in an orderly direction, indicating that signaling was impaired in mutant cell cultures. However, when labeled regA−cells were followed in a field of aggregating wild-type cells, they again failed to move in an orderly manner, primarily in the deduced fronts of waves, indicating that the chemotactic response was also impaired. Since wild-type cells must assess both the increasing spatial gradient and the increasing temporal gradient of cAMP in the front of a natural wave, the behavior of regA−cells was motion analyzed first in simulated temporal waves in the absence of spatial gradients and then was analyzed in spatial gradients in the absence of temporal waves. Our results demonstrate that RegA is involved neither in assessing the direction of a spatial gradient of cAMP nor in distinguishing between increasing and decreasing temporal gradients of cAMP. However, RegA is essential for specifically suppressing lateral pseudopod formation during the response to an increasing temporal gradient of cAMP, a necessary component of natural chemotaxis. We discuss the possibility that RegA functions in a network that regulates myosin phosphorylation by controlling internal cAMP levels, and, in support of that hypothesis, we demonstrate that myosin II does not localize in a normal manner to the cortex ofregA−cells in an increasing temporal gradient of cAMP.

scholarly journals A novel fully automatic design approach of a 3D printed face specific mask: Proof of concept

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0243388
Author(s):  
Eman Shaheen ◽  
Robin Willaert ◽  
Isabel Miclotte ◽  
Ruxandra Coropciuc ◽  
Michel Bila ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Subjective Assessment ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
International Regulations ◽  
High Volume Production ◽  
The Face ◽  
Volume Production ◽  
Fully Automatic ◽  
The Individual

The use of high quality facemasks is indispensable in the light of the current COVID pandemic. This study proposes a fully automatic technique to design a face specific mask. Through the use of stereophotogrammetry, computer-assisted design and three-dimensional (3D) printing, we describe a protocol for manufacturing facemasks perfectly adapted to the individual face characteristics. The face specific mask was compared to a universal design of facemask and different filter container’s designs were merged with the mask body. Subjective assessment of the face specific mask demonstrated tight closure at the nose, mouth and chin area, and permits the normal wearing of glasses. A screw-drive locking system is advised for easy assembly of the filter components. Automation of the process enables high volume production but still allows sufficient designer interaction to answer specific requirements. The suggested protocol can be used to provide more comfortable, effective and sustainable solution compared to a single use, standardized mask. Subsequent research on printing materials, sterilization technique and compliance with international regulations will facilitate the introduction of the face specific mask in clinical practice as well as for general use.

Structure and Action of Molecular Tracks and Motors

1998 ◽  
Vol 4 (S2) ◽  
pp. 456-457
Author(s):  
R.A. Milligan
Keyword(s):  
Conformational Changes ◽  
Molecular Motors ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Myosin I ◽  
Structure Determinations ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Mechanochemical Cycle ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Muscle Myosin

Molecular motors belonging to the myosin and kinesin superfamilies utilize ATP to move along their respective F-actin and microtubule tracks. The track-motor complexes have not been amenable to crystallization, so x-ray crystallographic investigations have focused on structure determinations of the individual proteins. Although providing detailed descriptions of the structure of each protein, this approach cannot reveal the geometry of interaction of the proteins nor the conformational changes which occur during the mechanochemical cycle. To obtain this information, we use cryoelectron microscopy and image analysis to calculate three dimensional maps of the track-motor complexes at moderate resolution (15-30A) and combine these data with the high resolution x-ray structures to provide near-atomic models of the working assemblies.We have so far built models of the rigor (nucleotide-free) and ADP actomyosin complexes. In smooth muscle myosin II (a collaboration with H.L. Sweeney, U. Perm.) and brush border myosin I (BBMI), the motor domain of the myosin head is similar in both biochemical states.

scholarly journals Microenvironmental factors in cell segregation and heterogeneity in breast cancer development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Roberto Romero-Arias ◽  
Carlos A. González-Castro ◽  
Guillermo Ramírez-Santiago
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Reaction Diffusion ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Reaction Diffusion Equations ◽  
Cancer Development ◽  
Breast Cancer Development ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Microenvironmental Factors ◽  
The Individual

ABSTRACTWe analyzed a quantitative model that describes the epigenetic dynamics during the growth and evolution of an avascular tumor. A gene regulatory network (GRN) formed by a set of ten genes that are believed to play an important role in breast cancer development was kinetically coupled to the microenvironmental agents: glucose, estrogens and oxygen. The dynamics of spontaneous mutations was described by a Yule-Furry master equation whose solution represents the probability that a given cell in the tissue undergoes a certain number of mutations at a given time. We assumed that mutations rate is modified by nutrients spatial gradients. The tumor mass was grown by means of a cellular automata supplemented with a set of reaction diffusion equations that described the transport of the microenvironmental agents. By analyzing the epigenetic states space described by the GRN dynamics, we found three attractors that were identified with the cellular epigenetic states: normal, precancer and cancer. For two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) tumors we calculated the spatial distributions of the following quantities: (i) number of mutations, (ii) mutations of each gene and, (iii) phenotypes. Using estrogens as the principal microenvironmental agent that regulates cells proliferation process, we obtained the tumor shapes for different values of the estrogen consumption and supply rates. It was found that he majority of mutations occurred in cells that were located close to the 2D tumor perimeter or close to the 3D tumor surface. Also It was found that the occurrence of different phenotypes in the tumor are controlled by the levels of estrogen concentration since they can change the individual cell threshold and gene expression levels. All the results were consistently observed for 2D and 3D tumors.

The regulation of chemotaxis and chemokinesis in Dictyostelium amoebae by temporal signals and spatial gradients of cyclic AMP

1994 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 659-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.G. Vicker
Keyword(s):  
Cyclic Amp ◽  
Molecular Diffusion ◽  
Gradient Field ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Spatial Gradient ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Cell Accumulation ◽  
Initial Effect ◽  
Gradient Orientation ◽  
Infusion System

The tactic and kinetic locomotion of Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae were examined in cyclic AMP (cAMP) spatial gradient and temporal signal fields. The distributions of migrating cells were examined within 150 microns-thick micropore filters after incubation with different cAMP concentrations, [cAMP], applied in three ways across the fields: as positively or negatively developing gradients, generated either by increasing or decreasing the [cAMP] on one side of the filter, respectively, or as static, linear gradients after negative development. Chemotaxis was only induced by oriented, temporally increasing [cAMP]. Pulses propagated by molecular diffusion or mechanical flow were equally effective. Negatively developing cAMP gradients had no initial effect on cell accumulation. However, if the subsequent static spatial gradient was maintained by an infusion system, some gradients also induced cell accumulation, whose degree and direction depended on the gradient [cAMP]. The basis of this new effect was examined by tracking individual cells by computer-assisted videomicroscopy during locomotion in different [cAMP]. Cells produced a triphasic [cAMP]-dependent response, with optimal cell motility induced by 10–30 nM. The results demonstrate that cell accumulation either up-field or down-field in spatial gradients is governed by the field locations of the attractant concentrations that induce the relative locomotory maxima and minima in the gradient field. Cells perceive the ambient [cAMP], but cannot read the spatial gradient orientation in static or yet steeper regions of developing gradients. Accumulation in static spatial gradients is a function of klino- and orthokinesis, but chemotaxis requires an oriented cAMP pulse or impulse.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

scholarly journals Representation of 3-D surface orientation by velocity and disparity gradient cues in area MT

2012 ◽  
Vol 107 (8) ◽  
pp. 2109-2122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahisa M. Sanada ◽  
Jerry D. Nguyenkim ◽  
Gregory C. DeAngelis
Keyword(s):  
Neural Coding ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Surface Orientation ◽  
Intermediate Step ◽  
Single Neurons ◽  
Area Mt ◽  
Integration Rule ◽  
Spatial Gradients ◽  
Planar Surfaces ◽  
The Individual

Neural coding of the three-dimensional (3-D) orientation of planar surface patches may be an important intermediate step in constructing representations of complex 3-D surface structure. Spatial gradients of binocular disparity, image velocity, and texture provide potent cues to the 3-D orientation (tilt and slant) of planar surfaces. Previous studies have described neurons in both dorsal and ventral stream areas that are selective for surface tilt based on one or more of these gradient cues. However, relatively little is known about whether single neurons provide consistent information about surface orientation from multiple gradient cues. Moreover, it is unclear how neural responses to combinations of surface orientation cues are related to responses to the individual cues. We measured responses of middle temporal (MT) neurons to random dot stimuli that simulated planar surfaces at a variety of tilts and slants. Four cue conditions were tested: disparity, velocity, and texture gradients alone, as well as all three gradient cues combined. Many neurons showed robust tuning for surface tilt based on disparity and velocity gradients, with relatively little selectivity for texture gradients. Some neurons showed consistent tilt preferences for disparity and velocity cues, whereas others showed large discrepancies. Responses to the combined stimulus were generally well described as a weighted linear sum of responses to the individual cues, even when disparity and velocity preferences were discrepant. These findings suggest that area MT contains a rudimentary representation of 3-D surface orientation based on multiple cues, with single neurons implementing a simple cue integration rule.

Computer Assisted Image Reconstruction of Oligomer Structure

1976 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 472-473
Author(s):  
A.M. Jones ◽  
A. Max Fiskin
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Depth Of Field ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Projection Data ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Single Particles ◽  
Dimensional Reconstruction ◽  
Computer Assisted Image ◽  
The Fourier Transform ◽  
Space Approach

If the tilt of a specimen can be varied either by the strategy of observing identical particles orientated randomly or by use of a eucentric goniometer stage, three dimensional reconstruction procedures are available (l). If the specimens, such as small protein aggregates, lack periodicity, direct space methods compete favorably in ease of implementation with reconstruction by the Fourier (transform) space approach (2). Regardless of method, reconstruction is possible because useful specimen thicknesses are always much less than the depth of field in an electron microscope. Thus electron images record the amount of stain in columns of the object normal to the recording plates. For single particles, practical considerations dictate that the specimen be tilted precisely about a single axis. In so doing a reconstructed image is achieved serially from two-dimensional sections which in turn are generated by a series of back-to-front lines of projection data.

Semi-automated methods for 3-D reconstruction of macromolecular complexes

1995 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 42-43
Author(s):  
B. Carragher ◽  
M. Whittaker
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Time Saving ◽  
Macromolecular Complexes ◽  
Symmetry Properties ◽  
Dimensional Reconstruction ◽  
Experienced Operator ◽  
Projection Images ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Natural Symmetry

Techniques for three-dimensional reconstruction of macromolecular complexes from electron micrographs have been successfully used for many years. These include methods which take advantage of the natural symmetry properties of the structure (for example helical or icosahedral) as well as those that use single axis or other tilting geometries to reconstruct from a set of projection images. These techniques have traditionally relied on a very experienced operator to manually perform the often numerous and time consuming steps required to obtain the final reconstruction. While the guidance and oversight of an experienced and critical operator will always be an essential component of these techniques, recent advances in computer technology, microprocessor controlled microscopes and the availability of high quality CCD cameras have provided the means to automate many of the individual steps.During the acquisition of data automation provides benefits not only in terms of convenience and time saving but also in circumstances where manual procedures limit the quality of the final reconstruction.

Phonetic iconicity in the evaluative morphology of a sample of Indo-European, Niger-Congo and Austronesian languages

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renáta Gregová ◽  
Lívia Körtvélyessy ◽  
Július Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Sound Symbolism ◽  
Three Dimensional Model ◽  
Austronesian Languages ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Phonetic Symbolism ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Core Vocabulary

Universals Archive (Universal #1926) indicates a universal tendency for sound symbolism in reference to the expression of diminutives and augmentatives. The research ( Štekauer et al. 2009 ) carried out on European languages has not proved the tendency at all. Therefore, our research was extended to cover three language families – Indo-European, Niger-Congo and Austronesian. A three-step analysis examining different aspects of phonetic symbolism was carried out on a core vocabulary of 35 lexical items. A research sample was selected out of 60 languages. The evaluative markers were analyzed according to both phonetic classification of vowels and consonants and Ultan's and Niewenhuis' conclusions on the dominance of palatal and post-alveolar consonants in diminutive markers. Finally, the data obtained in our sample languages was evaluated by means of a three-dimensional model illustrating the place of articulation of the individual segments.

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