Moving in the right direction: How eukaryotic cells migrate along chemical gradients

Many cells have the ability to grow or migrate towards chemical cues. Oriented growth and movement require detection of the external chemical gradient, transduction of signals, and reorganization of the cytoskeleton. Recent studies in Dictyostelium discoideum and mammalian neutrophils have revealed a complex signaling network that enables cells to migrate in chemical gradients.

► Many cells have the ability to grow or migrate towards chemical cues.
► Chemotaxis can be conceptually divided into the processes of motility, directional sensing, and polarity.
► A complex signaling network converts extracellular chemical gradients into localized intracellular signals to guide chemotaxis.
► A large portion of the signaling network appears to be excitable, and this excitability underlies the random motility of cells and is biased by chemoattractants in directed migration.