TY - JOUR A1 - Amselem, Gabriel A1 - Theves, Matthias A1 - Bae, Albert J. A1 - Beta, Carsten A1 - Bodenschatz, Eberhard T1 - Control parameter description of eukaryotic chemotaxis T2 - Physical review letters N2 - The chemotaxis of eukaryotic cells depends both on the average concentration of the chemoattractant and on the steepness of its gradient. For the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, we test quantitatively the prediction by Ueda and Shibata [Biophys. J. 93, 11 (2007)] that the efficacy of chemotaxis depends on a single control parameter only, namely, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), determined by the stochastic fluctuations of (i) the binding of the chemoattractant molecule to the transmembrane receptor and (ii) the intracellular activation of the effector of the signaling cascade. For SNR less than or similar to 1, the theory captures the experimental findings well, while for larger SNR noise sources further downstream in the signaling pathway need to be taken into account. Y1 - 2012 UR - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/35653 SN - 0031-9007 VL - 109 IS - 10 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER -