Cell patterning in migrating slugs of Dictyostelium discoideum

Development ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 663-668
Author(s):  
J. Sampson
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Cell Patterning ◽  
Fruiting Bodies ◽  
Large Spore

When front quarters of migrating slugs of Dictyostelium discoideum are isolated by surgery and induced to fruit immediately they produce fruiting bodies with disproportionately large stalks (Raper, 1940). The data in this communication show that the ‘stalky’ character of fruits derived from front quarters persists even if the cells of the front quarters are disaggregated and hence have to reaggregate before fruiting. The data also demonstrate that fruits derived from rear quarters of slugs have disproportionately large spore heads, and that this effect becomes more pronounced with increasing age of the slugs. These observations support the view that the cells of the front and rear of migrating slugs are to some extent committed to different fates.

scholarly journals A Putative Ariadne-Like Ubiquitin Ligase Is Required for Dictyostelium discoideum Development

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 1820-1825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Whitney ◽  
Lacey J. Pearson ◽  
Ryan Lunsford ◽  
Lisa McGill ◽  
Richard H. Gomer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Ubiquitin Ligase ◽  
Fruiting Bodies ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Cell Numbers

ABSTRACT The Dictyostelium rbrA gene encodes a putative Ariadne ubiquitin ligase. rbrA − cells form defective slugs that cannot phototax. Prestalk cell numbers are reduced in rbrA − slugs, and these prestalk cells do not localize to the tip of slugs. Chimeric slugs containing wild-type cells could phototax and form fruiting bodies.

Electrical properties of the slime mould grex

Development ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-322
Author(s):  
D. R. Garrod ◽  
J. F. Palmer ◽  
L. Wolpert
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Properties ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Fruiting Body ◽  
Fruiting Bodies ◽  
Electrophysiological Investigation ◽  
Slime Mould ◽  
Cellular Pattern ◽  
Electric Potentials

An electrophysiological investigation of the migrating grex of the slime mould, Dictyostelium discoideum, has been carried out with two aims in view. It was hoped to obtain information which would be relevant to, first, the formation and regulation of cellular pattern in the grex, and secondly, the problem of grex movement. During migration the grex develops a simple, linear cellular pattern. The cells at the front become the so-called ‘prestalk’ cells which will form the stalk of the fruiting body while those at the back become ‘prespore’ cells and form spores at culmination (Raper, 1940; Bonner, 1944; Bonner & Slifkin, 1949). Moreover, this cellular pattern is capable of polarized regulation. Raper (1940) has shown that portions isolated from the front or back of the grex are capable of forming normally proportioned fruiting bodies. A number of workers have suggested that bio-electric potentials may be involved in regulation of linear cellular pattern.

The signal from fruiting body and conus tips of Dictyostelium discoideum

Development ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-271
Author(s):  
Jonathan Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Fruiting Body ◽  
Beef Heart ◽  
Fruiting Bodies

Tips from fruiting bodies and conuses were transplanted into interphase fields of Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae. Progressively increasing concentrations of beef-heart phosphodiesterase added to the fields significantly decreased the chemotactic range of the responding amoebae. The findings suggest that the tip secretes c-AMP. We also find that the chemotactic range is independent of the size of the tip implying that the tip may produce a regulating gradient.

Action of a slowly hydrolysable cyclic AMP analogue on developing cells of Dictyostelium discoideum

1979 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 321-338
Author(s):  
C. Rossier ◽  
G. Gerisch ◽  
D. Malchow
Keyword(s):  
Cyclic Amp ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Type Strain ◽  
Wild Type Strain ◽  
Agar Plate ◽  
Cell Aggregation ◽  
Fruiting Bodies ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Camp Analogue ◽  
Order Of Magnitude

Adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic phosphorothioate (cAMP-S) is a cyclic AMP (cAMP) analogue which is only slowly hydrolysed by phosphodiesterases of Dictyostelium discoideum. The affinity of cAMP-S to cAMP receptors at the cell surface is only one order of magnitude lower than that of cAMP. cAMP-S can replace cAMP as a stimulant with respect to all receptor-mediated responses tested, including chemotaxis and the induction of cAMP pulses. cAMP-S does not affect growth of D. discoideum but it blocks cell aggregation at a uniform concentration of 5 × 10(−7) M in agar plate cultures of strain NC-4 as well as its axenically growing derivative, Ax-2. Another wild-type strain of D. discoideum, v-12, is able to aggregate on agar plates supplemented with 1 mM cAMP-S. The development of Polysphondylium pallidum and P. violaceum is also highly cAMP-S resistant. In Ax-2 both differentiation from the growth phase to the aggregation-competent stage and chemotaxis are cAMP-S sensitive, whereas in v-12 only chemotaxis is inhibited. v-12 can still form streams of cohering cells and fruiting bodies when chemotaxis is inhibited by cAMP-S. Whereas cAMP induces differentiation into stalk cells at concentrations of 10(−3) or 10(−4) M, cAMP-S has the same effect in strain v-12 at the much lower concentration of 10(−6) M.

scholarly journals Mitochondrial processing peptidase activity is controlled by the processing of α-MPP during development in Dictyostelium discoideum

Microbiology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 156 (4) ◽  
pp. 978-989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koki Nagayama ◽  
Tetsuo Ohmachi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Normal Development ◽  
Peptidase Activity ◽  
Fruiting Bodies ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Formation Stage ◽  
Mitochondrial Processing Peptidase ◽  
Processing Peptidase

We investigated the expression of the α subunit of the Dictyostelium mitochondrial processing peptidase (Ddα-MPP) during development. Ddα-MPP mRNA is expressed at the highest levels in vegetatively growing cells and during early development, and is markedly downregulated after 10 h of development. The Ddα-MPP protein is expressed as two forms, designated α-MPPH and α-MPPL, throughout the Dictyostelium life cycle. The larger form, α-MPPH, is cleaved to produce the functional α-MPPL form. We were not able to isolate mutants in which the α-mpp gene had been disrupted. Instead, an antisense transformant, αA2, expressing α-MPP at a lower level than the wild-type AX-3 was isolated to examine the function of the α-MPP protein. Development of the αA2 strain was normal until the slug formation stage, but the slug stage was prolonged to ∼24 h. In this prolonged slug stage, only α-MPPH was present, and α-MPPL protein and MPP activity were not detected. After 28 h, α-MPPL and MPP activity reappeared, and normal fruiting bodies were formed after a delay of approximately 8 h compared with normal development. These results indicate that MPP activity is controlled by the processing of α-MPPH to α-MPPL during development in Dictyostelium.

scholarly journals Evolving social behaviour through selection of single-cell adhesion in Dictyostelium discoideum

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandrine Adiba ◽  
Mathieu Forget ◽  
Silvia De Monte
Keyword(s):  
Cell Adhesion ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Experimental Evolution ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Fruiting Bodies ◽  
Social Success ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Strains ◽  
Selection Of

The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum commonly forms chimeric fruiting bodies by aggregation of different strains. Genetic variants that produce a higher proportion of spores are predicted to undercut multicellular organization unless cooperators assort positively. Cell adhesion is considered a primary factor driving such assortment, but evolution of adhesion has not been experimentally connected to changes in social performance. In this study we modified by experimental evolution the properties of individual cells, selecting for higher and lower adhesion to substrate. We then quantified the effects of these changes on cell-cell adhesion, development, and social behaviour. Unlike strains selected based on relative reproductive success in the social stage, we found that in binary chimeras both derived strains produce a smaller fraction of spores than the ancestor. Thus, evolution appears to have produced social cooperators. Examination of development revealed that this is however achieved via two opposed paths. Cells selected to be more adhesive to the substrate disproportionately contribute to the structural stability of fruiting bodies, as one would expect for cooperators. On the contrary, less adhesive cells behave as cheaters that undermine their own success more than that of the ancestor. These differences are reflected by a metric for social success that generalizes the classically used variation in frequency during the multicellular phase. Our work shows that cell mechanical interactions can constrain evolution of development and assortment in chimeras, and calls for integrating cell-level processes in conceptualizing the emergence of multicellular organization.

scholarly journals The recA-deficient Dictyostelium discoideum Forms Large Fruiting Bodies

2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-285
Author(s):  
Yasuna Hasegawa ◽  
Yukito Masamune ◽  
Hiro Yasukawa
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Fruiting Bodies

Pattern formation in Dictyostelium discoideum

Development ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-228
Author(s):  
D. Forman ◽  
D. R. Garrod
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Pattern Formation ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Cell Population ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Total Cell ◽  
Immunofluorescent Staining ◽  
Fruiting Bodies ◽  
Fluorescent Intensity ◽  
Total Cell Population

Immunofluorescent staining of the prespore cells of the cellular slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum was carried out using a heterologous spore antibody. The highly specific staining of the prespore vesicles (PSVs) within the prespore cells enabled quantitative determinations to be made of the rate and extent of development of these cells throughout the life cycle. The results showed that PSVs first appeared in a large proportion of the cells shortly after the cells had chemotactically aggregated into multicellular masses. During the later phases of the life cycle, the proportion of cells containing PSV increased, as did the fluorescent intensity of their PSVs, until the early culmination stage of development when 85–90 % of the total cell population contained PSVs. Lowering the temperature of development delayed the onset of vesicle formation and decreased the proportion of prespore cells in the total cell population. Changing the growth conditions of the cells prior to multicellular development also had a significant effect on the proportions of prespore cells, as did the use of a mutant known to give rise to fruiting bodies with a reduced number of spores. The comparability between these estimates of prespore cell proportions at culmination and previously reported spore:stalk ratios within fruiting bodies confirms the view that PSVs are reliable indicators of prespore cells. The finding that temperature and growth conditions and the use of mutants all of which are known to affect spore:stalk ratios, also all affected prespore proportions in the expected direction, adds further weight to this argument. The fact that prespore cells are beginning to differentiate early in the multicellular phase of the life cycle and the related finding that such differentiation always precedes formation of the grex tip are results of considerable importance to the development of a model for pattern formation in D. discoideum.

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