On the Swimming of \textit{Dictyostelium} amoebae

Abstract

Traditionally, the primary mode for locomotion of amoeboid cells was thought to be crawling on a substrate. Recently, it has been experimentally shown that \textit{Dictostelium} amoeba and neutrophils can also swim in a directed fashion. The mechanisms for amoeboid crawling and swimming were hypothesized to be similar. In this letter, we show that the shape changes generated by a crawling \textit{D. discoideum} cell are consistent with swimming.