The mechanism of formation of Liesegang structures around Dictyostelium discoideum

A theoretical study of the phenomenon of Liesegang structure formation induced by the Dictyostelium discoideum population in a medium containing folic acid was carried out. Using a "reaction-diffusion" model proposed in this work, it was shown that the formation of Liesegang structures around the Dictyostelium discoideum population depends on two competing processes: (a) inactivation of folic acid by vegetative amoebae and (b) the chemical reaction of folic acid with the products of amoeba metabolism, which results in the formation of insoluble sediment. The dependence of the model solutions on the geometric and functional parameters was studied. The results are in good agreement with experimental data.