Analysis of Chemotaxis in Dictyostelium

Dictyostelium discoideum is an excellent model organism for the study of directed cell migration, since Dictyostelium cells show robust chemotactic responses to the chemoattractant cAMP. Many powerful experimental tools are applicable, including forward and reverse genetics, biochemistry, microscopy, and proteomics. Recent studies have demonstrated that many components involved in chemotaxis are functionally conserved between human neutrophils and Dictyostelium amoebae. In this chapter, we describe how to define the functions of proteins that mediate and regulate cell motility, cell polarity, and directional sensing during chemotaxis in Dictyostelium .