EXPERIMENTAL FIGURE 17-46 Chemotactic molecules guide migrating cells by signaling the actin cytoskeleton. Dictyostelium cells migrate toward a pipette of cAMP (left), and human neutrophils (a type of leukocyte) migrate toward a pipette of fMLP (formylated Met-Leu-Phe), a chemotactic peptide produced by bacteria (right). In the lower two panels are individual chemotaxing Dictyostelium and neutrophil cells, which look remarkably similar, despite about 800 million years of evolution separating them.

[Republished with permission of Elsevier, from Parent, C. A., “Making all the right moves: chemotaxis in neutrophils and Dictyostelium,” Current Opinion in Cell Biology, 2004, 16(1):4-13, 2004; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.]