Dependence of stress resistance on a spore coat heteropolysaccharide in Dictyostelium.

ABSTRACT: In Dictyostelium, sporulation occurs synchronously as prespore cells approach the apex of the aerial stalk during culmination. Each prespore cell becomes surrounded by its own coat comprised of a core of crystalline cellulose and a branched heteropolysaccharide sandwiched between heterogeneous cysteine-rich glycoproteins. The function of the heteropolysaccharide, which consists of galactose and N-acetylgalactosamine, is unknown. Two glycosyltransferase-like genes encoding multifunctional proteins, each with predicted features of a heteropolysaccharide synthase, were identified in the Dictyostelium discoideum genome. pgtB and pgtC transcripts were modestly upregulated during early development, and pgtB was further intensely upregulated at the time of heteropolysaccharide accumulation. Disru

SUBMITTER: West CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2620749 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature