Imaging G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR)-mediated signaling events that control chemotaxis of Dictyostelium discoideum.

Many eukaryotic cells can detect gradients of chemical signals in their environments and migrate accordingly (1). This guided cell migration is referred as chemotaxis, which is essential for various cells to carry out their functions such as trafficking of immune cells and patterning of neuronal cells (2, 3). A large family of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) detects variable small peptides, known as chemokines, to direct cell migration in vivo (4). The final goal of chemotaxis research is to understand how a GPCR machinery senses chemokine gradients and controls signaling events leading to chemotaxis. To this end, we use imaging techniques to monitor, in real time, spatiotemporal concentrations of chemoattractants, cell movement in a gradient of chemoattractant, GPCR mediated activation of heterotrimeric G-protein, and intracellular signaling events involved in chemotaxis of eukaryotic cells (5-8). The simple eukaryotic organism, Dictyostelium discoideum, displays chemotaxic behaviors that are similar to those of leukocytes, and D. discoideum is a key model system for studying eukaryotic chemotaxis. As free-living amoebae, D. discoideum cells divide in rich medium. Upon starvation, cells enter a developmental program in which they aggregate through cAMP-mediated chemotaxis to form multicullular structures. Many components involved in chemotaxis to cAMP have been identified in D. discoideum. The binding of cAMP to a GPCR (cAR1) induces dissociation of heterotrimeric G-proteins into Gγ and Gβγ subunits (7, 9, 10). Gβγ subunits activate Ras, which in turn activates PI3K, converting PIP(2;) into PIP(3;) on the cell membrane (11-13). PIP(3;) serve as binding sites for proteins with pleckstrin Homology (PH) domains, thus recruiting these proteins to the membrane (14, 15). Activation of cAR1 receptors also controls the membrane associations of PTEN, which dephosphorylates PIP(3;) to PIP(2;)(16, 17). The molecular mechanisms are evolutionarily conserved in chemokine GPCR-mediated chemotaxis of human cells such as neutrophils (18). We present following methods for studying chemotaxis of D. discoideum cells. 1. Preparation of chemotactic component cells. 2. Imaging chemotaxis of cells in a cAMP gradient. 3. Monitoring a GPCR induced activation of heterotrimeric G-protein in single live cells. 4. Imaging chemoattractant-triggered dynamic PIP(3;) responses in single live cells in real time. Our developed imaging methods can be applied to study chemotaxis of human leukocytes.