Regulation of Cell-type-specific Gene Expression in Dictyostelium
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
We are interested in the problems of how gene expression is regulated during development and how an initially homogeneous population of cells is partitioned into two distinct cell types. To approach these questions, we are studying a simple eukaryote, Dictyostelium discoideum. Approximately 10 hours after exhaustion of a food source, Dictyostelium amebae form a multicellular aggregate. Decisions are made at this time (or earlier according to some models [MacWilliams and Bonner 1979; Tasaka and Takeuchi 1981, McDonald and Durston 1984]) as to whether individual cells will differentiate into prespore or prestalk cells, the precursors to the terminally differentiated spore and stalk cells. As development proceeds, these cell types become located in distinct regions of the aggregate. This is most apparent in the migrating slug or pseudoplasmodium, in which the anterior 15–20% of the slug consists of prestalk cells and the remainder consists predominantly of prespore cells. In contrast to development...
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↵* Present address: Plant Biology Laboratory, The Salk Institute, San Diego, California 92138.
