scholarly journals Macrocyst development in Dictyostelium discoideum. I. Induction of synchronous development by giant cells and biochemical analysis

1982 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 341-352
Author(s):  
Y. Saga ◽  
K. Yanagisawa
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Enzyme Activities ◽  
Biochemical Analysis ◽  
Giant Cells ◽  
Mating Types ◽  
Fruiting Body Formation ◽  
Single Strain ◽  
Synchronous Development ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Kinetics Of

In Dictyostelium discoideum, cytological and physiological studies on macrocyst formation revealed that this process consists of at least two steps: the production of giant cells, which are believed to be formed from the fusion of cells of two opposite mating types, and the subsequent induction of macrocyst development by the giant cells. The conditions that had been considered formerly to be required for macrocyst formation, such as darkness at the presence of two cells of complementary mating types in heterothallic strains, were actually required only for the production of the giant cells. Once giant cells are produced, the surrounding cells can aggregate and form macrocysts even in the light. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that giant cells can switch the developmental mode of the surrounding cells to macrocyst formation. That is, if a critical number of the isolated giant cells are introduced into a cell population of a single strain of NC4, which normally would produce only fruiting-bodies, macrocysts are formed instead. When in the presence of giant cells, the development of macrocysts may be initiated by starvation. Therefore, if all cells are made to starve simultaneously development begins and proceeds synchronously. Using this technique of synchronous development, the developmental kinetics of enzyme activities were assayed during macrocyst and fruiting-body formation. Considerable differences in the patterns of those enzyme activities were demonstrated between the two developmental modes of D. discoideum.

Differentiation of Dictyostelium discoideum mutant cells in a shaken suspension culture and the effect of cyclic AMP

1981 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-142
Author(s):  
K. Abe ◽  
Y. Saga ◽  
H. Okada ◽  
K. Yanagisawa
Keyword(s):  
Cyclic Amp ◽  
Suspension Culture ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Solid Surface ◽  
Enzyme Activities ◽  
Parental Strain ◽  
Mutant Cell ◽  
Specific Activities ◽  
Mutant Cells ◽  
Kinetics Of

In Dictyostelium discoideum, 16 mutants in which cells differentiate into spores and stalk cells without normal morphogenesis were isolated. All these mutants are rapidly developing and capable of differentiating in a shaken suspension of phosphate buffer.The developmental kinetics of specific activities of enzymes in one of the mutants, HTY 1851, cultured in the suspension was compared with that in the parental strain, X2, developed on a solid surface. Most of the enzyme activities appeared much earlier and the peaks of the activities were lower in HTY1851 than X2, but the order or appearance of the activities was the same in both the strains cultured under the conditions described above. These results suggest that the biochemical steps in the development of the mutant in a shaken suspension are essentially the same as those of the parental strain X2 on a solid surface. It was also found that addition of cyclic AMP (2.5 X 10-5 M to 1 X 10-4 M) to the mutant cell suspension 6–8 h after the initiation of development induced an increase in the number of spores and the specific activities of some enzymes to values twice as high as those of an untreated control.

scholarly journals NH2-terminal acetylation of Dictyostelium discoideum actin in a cell-free protein-synthesizing system.

1981 ◽  
Vol 256 (15) ◽  
pp. 8149-8155 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Rubenstein ◽  
P. Smith ◽  
J. Deuchler ◽  
K. Redman
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Free Protein ◽  
A Cell

Phagocytic specificity during sexual development in Dictyostelium discoideum

1986 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith E. Lewis ◽  
Danton H. O'Day
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Concanavalin A ◽  
Sexual Development ◽  
Wheat Germ ◽  
Giant Cells ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Sexual Cycle ◽  
Type I ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Type Receptor

During the sexual cycle of Dictyostelium discoideum, zygote giant cells develop and serve as foci for further development by chemoattracting and cannibalizing hundreds of local amoebae. Previous work has shown that the phagocytic process bears similarities to and differences from asexual endocytosis. In the present study, sexual phagocytosis in D. discoideum was found to be species and developmental stage specific. It was inhibited selectively by glucose and concanavalin A. Although a partial, inhibitory effect of mannose on phagocytosis was not statistically significant, alpha-methylmannosamine, like alpha-methyl-glucose, significantly restored the phagocytic competence of giant cells treated with concanavalin A. Other sugars (N-acetyl glucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine, and galactose) and lectins (wheat germ agglutinin, Ulex europus type I, and Ricinis communis agglutinin type I) had no significant effect on sexual phagocytosis. Together these data indicate that a glucose-type receptor is involved in selective uptake of D. discoideum amoebae by giant cells.

scholarly journals Determinants of mRNA stability in Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae: differences in poly(A) tail length, ribosome loading, and mRNA size cannot account for the heterogeneity of mRNA decay rates.

1988 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 1957-1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
R A Shapiro ◽  
D Herrick ◽  
R E Manrow ◽  
D Blinder ◽  
A Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Mrna Decay ◽  
Decay Rates ◽  
Time Dependent ◽  
Translational Efficiency ◽  
Cdna Clones ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Kinetics Of

As an approach to understanding the structures and mechanisms which determine mRNA decay rates, we have cloned and begun to characterize cDNAs which encode mRNAs representative of the stability extremes in the poly(A)+ RNA population of Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae. The cDNA clones were identified in a screening procedure which was based on the occurrence of poly(A) shortening during mRNA aging. mRNA half-lives were determined by hybridization of poly(A)+ RNA, isolated from cells labeled in a 32PO4 pulse-chase, to dots of excess cloned DNA. Individual mRNAs decayed with unique first-order decay rates ranging from 0.9 to 9.6 h, indicating that the complex decay kinetics of total poly(A)+ RNA in D. discoideum amoebae reflect the sum of the decay rates of individual mRNAs. Using specific probes derived from these cDNA clones, we have compared the sizes, extents of ribosome loading, and poly(A) tail lengths of stable, moderately stable, and unstable mRNAs. We found (i) no correlation between mRNA size and decay rate; (ii) no significant difference in the number of ribosomes per unit length of stable versus unstable mRNAs, and (iii) a general inverse relationship between mRNA decay rates and poly(A) tail lengths. Collectively, these observations indicate that mRNA decay in D. discoideum amoebae cannot be explained in terms of random nucleolytic events. The possibility that specific 3'-structural determinants can confer mRNA instability is suggested by a comparison of the labeling and turnover kinetics of different actin mRNAs. A correlation was observed between the steady-state percentage of a given mRNA found in polysomes and its degree of instability; i.e., unstable mRNAs were more efficiently recruited into polysomes than stable mRNAs. Since stable mRNAs are, on average, "older" than unstable mRNAs, this correlation may reflect a translational role for mRNA modifications that change in a time-dependent manner. Our previous studies have demonstrated both a time-dependent shortening and a possible translational role for the 3' poly(A) tracts of mRNA. We suggest, therefore, that the observed differences in the translational efficiency of stable and unstable mRNAs may, in part, be attributable to differences in steady-state poly(A) tail lengths.

Regulation of a ras-related protein during development of Dictyostelium discoideum

1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-39
Author(s):  
T Pawson ◽  
T Amiel ◽  
E Hinze ◽  
N Auersperg ◽  
N Neave ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Weight ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Tryptic Peptide ◽  
Related Protein ◽  
Post Translational Modification ◽  
Peptide Analysis ◽  
Fruiting Body Formation ◽  
Weight Protein ◽  
Primary Gene

Recent work has shown that DNA sequences related to the mammalian ras proto-oncogenes are highly conserved in eucaryotic evolution. A monoclonal antibody (Y13-259) to mammalian p21ras specifically precipitated a 23,000-molecular-weight protein (p23) from lysates of Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae. Tryptic peptide analysis indicated that D. discoideum p23 was closely related in its primary structure to mammalian p21ras. p23 was apparently derived by post-translational modification of a 24,000-molecular-weight primary gene product. The amount of p23 was highest in growing amoebae, but declined markedly with the onset of differentiation such that by fruiting body formation there was less than 10% of the amoeboid level. The rate of p23 synthesis dropped rapidly during aggregation, rose transiently during pseudoplasmodial formation, and then declined during the terminal stages of differentiation. There was, therefore, a strong correlation between the expression of the ras-related protein p23 and cell proliferation of D. discoideum.

scholarly journals Mapping of a cell-binding domain in the cell adhesion molecule gp80 of Dictyostelium discoideum.

1988 ◽  
Vol 107 (5) ◽  
pp. 1835-1843 ◽  
Author(s):  
R K Kamboj ◽  
L M Wong ◽  
T Y Lam ◽  
C H Siu
Keyword(s):  
Cell Adhesion ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Fusion Proteins ◽  
Binding Activity ◽  
Binding Domain ◽  
Globular Domain ◽  
Cell Binding ◽  
Homophilic Interaction ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Cell Binding Domain

At the aggregation stage of Dictyostelium discoideum development, a cell surface glycoprotein of Mr 80,000 (gp80) has been found to mediate the EDTA-resistant type of cell-cell adhesion via homophilic interaction (Siu, C.-H., A. Cho, and A. H. C. Choi. 1987. J. Cell Biol. 105:2523-2533). To investigate the structure-function relationships of gp80, we have isolated full length cDNA clones for gp80 and determined the DNA sequence. The deduced structure of gp80 showed three major domains. An amino-terminal globular domain composed of the bulk of the protein is supported by a short stalk region, which is followed by a membrane anchor at the carboxy terminus. Structural analysis suggested that the cell-binding domain of gp80 resides within the globular domain near the amino terminus. To investigate the relationship of the cell-binding activity to this region of the polypeptide, three protein A/gp80 (PA80) gene fusions were constructed using the expression vector pRIT2T. These PA80 fusion proteins were assayed for their ability to bind to aggregation stage cells. Binding of 125I-labeled fusion proteins PA80I (containing the Val123 to Ile514 fragment of gp80) and PA80II (Val123 to Ala258) was dosage dependent and could be inhibited by precoating cells with the cell cohesion-blocking mAb 80L5C4. On the other hand, there was no appreciable binding of PA80III (Ile174 to Ile514) to cells. Reassociation of cells was significantly inhibited in the presence of PA80I or PA80II. In addition, 125I-labeled PA80II exhibited homophilic interaction with immobilized PA80I, PA80II, or gp80. The results of these studies lead to the mapping of a cell-binding domain in the region between Val123 and Leu173 of gp80 and provide direct evidence that the cell-binding activity of gp80 resides in the protein moiety.

scholarly journals Hypoxia triggers collective aerotactic migration in Dictyostelium discoideum

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Cochet-Escartin ◽  
M. Demircigil ◽  
S. Hirose ◽  
B. Allais ◽  
P. Gonzalo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Cell Communication ◽  
Quantitative Agreement ◽  
Cellular Potts Model ◽  
Detection Mechanism ◽  
Cell Behaviors ◽  
Dense Ring ◽  
Efficient Detection ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
A Cell

AbstractIt is well known that eukaryotic cells can sense oxygen (O2) and adapt their metabolism accordingly. It is less known that they can also move towards regions of higher oxygen level (aerotaxis). Using a self-generated hypoxic assay, we show that the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum displays a spectacular aerotactic behavior. When a cell colony is covered by a coverglass, cells quickly consume the available O2 and the ones close to the periphery move directionally outward forming a dense ring keeping a constant speed and density. To confirm that O2 is the main molecular player in this seemingly collective process, we combined two technological developments, porphyrin based O2 sensing films and microfluidic O2 gradient generators. We showed that Dictyostelium cells exhibit aerotactic and aerokinetic (increased speed at low O2) response in an extremely low range of O2 concentration (0-1.5%) indicative of a very efficient detection mechanism. The various cell behaviors under self-generated or imposed O2 gradients were modeled with a very satisfactory quantitative agreement using an in silico cellular Potts model built on experimental observations. This computational model was complemented with a parsimonious ‘Go or Grow’ partial differential equation (PDE) model. In both models, we found that the collective migration of a dense ring can be explained by the interplay between cell division and the modulation of aerotaxis, without the need for cell-cell communication.

Isolation and Hybridization Kinetics of Messenger RNA from Dictyostelium discoideum

1972 ◽  
Vol 239 (95) ◽  
pp. 225-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD A. FIRTEL ◽  
ALLAN JACOBSON ◽  
HARVEY F. LODISH
Keyword(s):  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Messenger Rna ◽  
Kinetics Of

scholarly journals THE TIME OF SYNTHESIS AND THE CONSERVATION OF MITOSIS-RELATED PROTEINS IN CULTURED HUMAN AMNION CELLS

1967 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse E. Sisken ◽  
Elaina Wilkes
Keyword(s):  
Time Lapse ◽  
Major Effect ◽  
Human Amnion ◽  
Daughter Cells ◽  
Low Concentrations ◽  
Associated Proteins ◽  
A Cell ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Related Proteins ◽  
Kinetics Of

p-Fluorophenylalanine (PFPA), an analogue of phenylalanine which may be incorporated into proteins, increases the duration of mitosis. In the present experiments, based upon quantitative analyses of time-lapse cinemicrographic films, brief treatments of cells with PFPA are shown to affect the duration of metaphase in only those cells which enter division during or shortly after treatment. The offspring of cells with prolonged metaphases also tend to have prolonged metaphases. Analyses of the kinetics of the appearance of prolonged metaphases indicate that some protein specifically associated with mitosis is synthesized primarily during a period which corresponds closely to G2. The manner in which the defect is passed on to daughter cells indicates that the protein involved is conserved and reutilized by daughter cells for their subsequent divisions. Comparable experiments performed with low concentrations of puromycin indicate that the major effect of PFPA is due to its incorporation into protein rather than its ability to inhibit protein synthesis. The fact that puromycin-induced effects can also be passed on to daughter cells is interpreted to mean that cells make only specific amounts of some mitosis-associated proteins and that if a cell "inherits" a deficiency in such protein it is not able to compensate for the deficiency.

Culmination in the slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum studied with a scanning electron microscope

Development ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-333
Author(s):  
D. J. Watts ◽  
T. E. Treffry
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Scanning Electron Microscopy ◽  
Dictyostelium Discoideum ◽  
Fruiting Body ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Slow Process ◽  
Fruiting Body Formation ◽  
Basal Disc ◽  
Body Formation ◽  
Scanning Electron

Myxamoebae of Dictyostelium discoideum were allowed to develop on cellulose acetate filters, and specimens taken at various stages of fruiting body formation were prepared for study by scanning electron microscopy. In the immature fruiting body where the mass of pre-spore cells has just been lifted off the substratum by the developing stalk, the pre-spore cells are irregular in shape and are similar in appearance to cells in aggregates at earlier stages of development. As the stalk lengthens, the pre-spore cells gradually separate from one another and become rounded and elongate, but mature spores are not visible until the fruiting body reaches its maximum height. It is concluded that, contrary to previous reports, spore maturation is a slow process and is not completed until the sorus becomes pigmented. The mature stalk is surrounded by a smooth cellulose sheath but this does not envelop the cells of the basal disc, which remain discrete. The fruiting body is enclosed in a slime sheath and this may be important in holding together the mass of spores.

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