Defects in the synthetic pathway prevent DIF-1 mediated stalk lineage specification cascade in the non-differentiating social amoeba, Acytostelium subglobosum.

ABSTRACT: Separation of somatic cells from germ-line cells is a crucial event for multicellular organisms, but how this step was achieved during evolution remains elusive. In Dictyostelium discoideum and many other dictyostelid species, solitary amoebae gather and form a multicellular fruiting body in which germ-line spores and somatic stalk cells differentiate, whereas in Acytostelium subglobosum, acellular stalks form and all aggregated amoebae become spores. In this study, because most D. discoideum genes known to be required for stalk cell differentiation have homologs in A. subglobosum, we inferred functional variations in these genes and examined conservation of the stalk cell specification cascade of D. discoideum mediated by the polyketide differentiation-inducing factor-1 (DIF-1) in A. subg

SUBMITTER: Mohri K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4058090 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature