The Hidden Roles of Receptors in Intercellular Synchronization and Its Mathematical Generality

Dictyostelium discoideum (Dicty) is a type of unicellular amoeba, but when starved, a large number of amoebas gather together to form a multicellular organism. In this review, we first introduce our cellular dynamics method for Dicty, including intracellular biochemical reactions. We then introduce a number of hidden roles of receptors that have been revealed by our simulation studies. Of particular note is that receptor-receptor interactions are strengthened under starvation conditions, resulting in diverse dynamic functions that cannot be predicted from the action of a single receptor, such as intercellular synchronization. Furthermore, we introduce a mathematical generalization of Dicty’s receptor function and demonstrate its potential applications not only in the biological field but also in the engineering field.