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First published online February 6, 2009

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Dicty sporulation on steroids

When individual amoebae of the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum face hard times, up to 100,000 of them form a multicellular aggregate. Because spores, which ultimately form from this aggregate, are unable to move, the timing of sporulation is critical for the successful completion of Dictyostelium's life cycle. On p. 803, Anjard, Su and Loomis identify novel players in the regulation of this event. Previously, these authors had identified the peptide SDF-2 as a sporulation regulator, and had proposed that GABA triggers SDF-2 production by binding to the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) GrlE. Now, they establish that GrlE is probably linked to the G7 subunit. Intriguingly, they also find that cells mutant for the GPCR GrlA and the G4 subunit fail to accumulate SDF-2 in response to GABA. Finally, the authors identify the steroid SDF-3 as a sporulation factor and suggest that it signals through GrlA and G4 to elicit the rapid release of GABA, placing it at the top of the sporulation-inducing cascade.

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Related articles in Development:

Steroids initiate a signaling cascade that triggers rapid sporulation in Dictyostelium

Christophe Anjard, Yongxuan Su, and William F. Loomis
Development 2009 136: 803-812. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?