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Current Issues in Molecular Biology Jul 2006The 34 Mb genome of Dictyostelium discoideum is carried on 6 chromosomes and has been fully sequenced by an international consortium. The sequence was assembled on the... (Review)
Review
The 34 Mb genome of Dictyostelium discoideum is carried on 6 chromosomes and has been fully sequenced by an international consortium. The sequence was assembled on the classical and physical maps that had been built up over the years and refined by HAPPY mapping. Annotation of the sequence predicted about 12,000 genes for proteins of at least 50 amino acids in length. The total number of amino acids encoded (the proteome) is more than double that in yeast and rivals that of metazoans. The genome sequence shows all the proteins available to Dictyostelium as well as definitively showing which domains have been lost since Dictyostelium diverged from the line leading to metazoans. Genomics opens the door to determining the expression patterns of all the genes during growth and development using microarrays. This approach has already uncovered a wealth of new markers for the stages of development and the various cell types. Transcription factors and their cis-regulatory sites that account for the surprising complexity of Dictyostelium development can be analyzed much more easily now that we have the complete sequence.
Topics: Animals; Chromosomes; Dictyostelium; Genome, Protozoan; Transcription, Genetic
PubMed: 16875414
DOI: No ID Found -
Current Biology : CB Dec 2010
Topics: Animals; Chemotaxis; Dictyostelium; Research Design; Soil Microbiology
PubMed: 21145012
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2010.09.051 -
Experientia Dec 1995The evolutionary relationship of Dictyostelium discoideum to the yeasts, fungi, plants, and animals is considered on the basis of physiological, morphological and... (Review)
Review
The evolutionary relationship of Dictyostelium discoideum to the yeasts, fungi, plants, and animals is considered on the basis of physiological, morphological and molecular characteristics. Previous analyses of five proteins indicated that Dictyostelium diverged after the yeasts but before the metazoan radiation. However, analyses of the small ribosomal subunit RNA indicated divergence prior to the yeasts. We have extended the molecular phylogenetic analyses to six more proteins and find consistent evidence for a more recent common ancestor with metazoans than yeast. A consensus phylogeny generated from these new results by both distance matrix and parsimony analyses establishes Dictyostelum's place in evolution between the yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizzosaccharomyces pombe and the worm Caenorhabditis elegans.
Topics: Animals; DNA, Ribosomal; Dictyostelium; Humans; Phylogeny; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
PubMed: 8536798
DOI: 10.1007/BF01944728 -
Development, Growth & Differentiation May 2011Signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) proteins are one of the important mediators of phosphotyrosine-regulated signaling in metazoan cells. These... (Review)
Review
Signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) proteins are one of the important mediators of phosphotyrosine-regulated signaling in metazoan cells. These proteins are components of JAK/STAT signal transduction pathways, which regulate immune responses, cell fate, proliferation, cell migration, and programmed cell death in multicellular organisms. The cellular slime mould, Dictyostelium discoideum, is the simplest multicellular organism using molecules homologous to STATs, Dd-STATa-d. The Dd-STATa null mutant displays delayed aggregation, no phototaxis and fails culmination. Here, the functions of Dictyostelium STATs during development and their associated signaling molecules are discussed.
Topics: Dictyostelium; STAT Transcription Factors; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 21534947
DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-169X.2010.01243.x -
Cells Nov 2021The social amoeba provides an excellent model for research across a broad range of disciplines within biology. The organism diverged from the plant, yeast, fungi and... (Review)
Review
The social amoeba provides an excellent model for research across a broad range of disciplines within biology. The organism diverged from the plant, yeast, fungi and animal kingdoms around 1 billion years ago but retains common aspects found in these kingdoms. has a low level of genetic complexity and provides a range of molecular, cellular, biochemical and developmental biology experimental techniques, enabling multidisciplinary studies to be carried out in a wide range of areas, leading to research breakthroughs. Numerous laboratories within the United Kingdom employ as their core research model. This review introduces and then highlights research from several leading British research laboratories, covering their distinct areas of research, the benefits of using the model, and the breakthroughs that have arisen due to the use of as a tractable model system.
Topics: Animals; Biology; Dictyostelium; Drug Discovery; Models, Biological; Protein Processing, Post-Translational; Research; United Kingdom
PubMed: 34831258
DOI: 10.3390/cells10113036 -
The International Journal of... 2019The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is a tractable model organism to study cellular allorecognition, which is the ability of a cell to distinguish itself and its... (Review)
Review
The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is a tractable model organism to study cellular allorecognition, which is the ability of a cell to distinguish itself and its genetically similar relatives from more distantly related organisms. Cellular allorecognition is ubiquitous across the tree of life and affects many biological processes. Depending on the biological context, these versatile systems operate both within and between individual organisms, and both promote and constrain functional heterogeneity. Some of the most notable allorecognition systems mediate neural self-avoidance in flies and adaptive immunity in vertebrates. D. discoideum's allorecognition system shares several structures and functions with other allorecognition systems. Structurally, its key regulators reside at a single genomic locus that encodes two highly polymorphic proteins, a transmembrane ligand called TgrC1 and its receptor TgrB1. These proteins exhibit isoform-specific, heterophilic binding across cells. Functionally, this interaction determines the extent to which co-developing D. discoideum strains co-aggregate or segregate during the aggregation phase of multicellular development. The allorecognition system thus affects both development and social evolution, as available evidence suggests that the threat of developmental cheating represents a primary selective force acting on it. Other significant characteristics that may inform the study of allorecognition in general include that D. discoideum's allorecognition system is a continuous and inclusive trait, it is pleiotropic, and it is temporally regulated.
Topics: Adaptive Immunity; Cell Adhesion; Chemotaxis; Dictyostelium; Glycoproteins; Glycosylation; Ligands; Models, Biological; Phenotype; Protozoan Proteins
PubMed: 31840777
DOI: 10.1387/ijdb.190239gs -
Science (New York, N.Y.) Sep 1989The cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum undergoes a transition from single-celled amoebae to a multicellular organism as a natural part of its life cycle. A... (Review)
Review
The cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum undergoes a transition from single-celled amoebae to a multicellular organism as a natural part of its life cycle. A method of cell-cell signaling that controls chemotaxis, morphogenesis, and gene expression has developed in this organism, and a detailed understanding of this signaling system provides clues to mechanisms of intercellular communication in the development of metazoans.
Topics: Cell Communication; Cell Movement; Chemotaxis; Dictyostelium; Genes, Fungal; Models, Biological; Morphogenesis; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 2672337
DOI: 10.1126/science.2672337 -
Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta. General... Jan 2017The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a dynamic complex of glycoproteins, proteoglycans, carbohydrates, and collagen that serves as an interface between mammalian cells and... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a dynamic complex of glycoproteins, proteoglycans, carbohydrates, and collagen that serves as an interface between mammalian cells and their extracellular environment. Essential for normal cellular homeostasis, physiology, and events that occur during development, it is also a key functionary in a number of human diseases including cancer. The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum secretes an ECM during multicellular development that regulates multicellularity, cell motility, cell differentiation, and morphogenesis, and provides structural support and protective layers to the resulting differentiated cell types. Proteolytic processing within the Dictyostelium ECM leads to specific bioactive factors that regulate cell motility and differentiation.
SCOPE OF REVIEW
Here we review the structure and functions of the Dictyostelium ECM and its role in regulating multicellular development. The questions and challenges that remain and how they can be answered are also discussed.
MAJOR CONCLUSIONS
The Dictyostelium ECM shares many of the features of mammalian and plant ECM, and thus presents an excellent system for studying the structure and function of the ECM.
GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE
As a genetically tractable model organism, Dictyostelium offers the potential to further elucidate ECM functions, and to possibly reveal previously unknown roles for the ECM.
Topics: Dictyostelium; Disease; Extracellular Matrix; Extracellular Matrix Proteins; Humans; Protozoan Proteins; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 27693486
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2016.09.026 -
Current Biology : CB Nov 1997The discovery of a STAT protein in Dictyostelium indicates that this organism uses phosphotyrosine-SH2-domain signalling during development. Such signalling is lacking... (Review)
Review
The discovery of a STAT protein in Dictyostelium indicates that this organism uses phosphotyrosine-SH2-domain signalling during development. Such signalling is lacking in yeast and its appearance may therefore be an early step in the evolution of multicellularity.
Topics: Animals; DNA-Binding Proteins; Dictyostelium; Signal Transduction; Trans-Activators
PubMed: 9382786
DOI: 10.1016/s0960-9822(06)00366-6 -
The International Journal of... Dec 2000In Dictyostelium, development begins with the aggregation of free living amoebae, which soon become organized into a relatively simple organism with a few different cell... (Review)
Review
In Dictyostelium, development begins with the aggregation of free living amoebae, which soon become organized into a relatively simple organism with a few different cell types. Coordinated cell type differentiation and morphogenesis lead to a final fruiting body that allows the dispersal of spores. The study of these processes is having increasing impact on our understanding of general developmental mechanisms. The availability of biochemical and molecular genetics techniques has allowed the discovery of complex signaling networks which are essential for Dictyostelium development and are also conserved in other organisms. The levels of cAMP (both intracellular and extracellular) play essential roles in every stage of Dictyostelium development, regulating many different signal transduction pathways. Two-component systems, involving histidine kinases and response regulators, have been found to regulate intracellular cAMP levels and PKA during terminal differentiation. The sequence of the Dictyostelium genome is expected to be completed in less than two years. Nevertheless, the available sequences that are already being released, together with the results of expressed sequence tags (ESTs), are providing invaluable tools to identify new and interesting genes for further functional analysis. Global expression studies, using DNA microarrays in synchronous development to study temporal changes in gene expression, are presently being developed. In the near future, the application of this type of technology to the complete set of Dictyostelium genes (approximately 10,000) will facilitate the discovery of the effects of mutation of components of the signaling networks that regulate Dictyostelium development on changes in gene expression.
Topics: Animals; Body Patterning; Cell Differentiation; Chemotaxis; Dictyostelium; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Models, Biological; Signal Transduction; Time Factors
PubMed: 11206323
DOI: No ID Found