Variation, sex, and social cooperation: molecular population genetics of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.

ABSTRACT: Dictyostelium discoideum is a eukaryotic microbial model system for multicellular development, cell-cell signaling, and social behavior. Key models of social evolution require an understanding of genetic relationships between individuals across the genome or possibly at specific genes, but the nature of variation within D. discoideum is largely unknown. We re-sequenced 137 gene fragments in wild North American strains of D. discoideum and examined the levels and patterns of nucleotide variation in this social microbial species. We observe surprisingly low levels of nucleotide variation in D. discoideum across these strains, with a mean nucleotide diversity (pi) of 0.08%, and no strong population stratification among North American strains. We also do not find any clear relationship between

SUBMITTER: Flowers JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2895654 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature