A polymorphic, prespore-specific cell surface glycoprotein is present in the extracellular matrix of Dictyostelium discoideum (original) (raw)

Separation and properties of prestalk and prespore cells of Dictyostelium discoideum

Experimental Cell Research, 1981

We describe a method of separating prestalk and prespore cells of Dictyostelium discoideum slugs using a self-generating Percoll gradient. This method gives quantitative recovery of cells and good purity. Separated prestalk and prespore cells possess different levels of the enzymes UDP galactose : polysaccharide transferase, CAMP phosphodiesterase and glycogen phosphorylase. We have used this method, as well as mechanical dissection of slugs, to examine the fate of separated prestalk and prespore cells in Dicfyostelium strains that are able to give rise to mature stalk and spore cells in cell monolayers. The results from such experiments provide direct evidence that prestalk and prespore cells from the migrating slug stage are programmed to differentiate into stalk and spore cells respectively.

Monoclonal antibody characterisation of slime sheath: the extracellular matrix of Dictyostelium discoideum

The EMBO journal, 1983

Proteins can be extracted from the slime sheath of Dictyostelium discoideum slugs by denaturing agents. A subset of these proteins is also released by cellulase digestion of the sheath, implying that protein-protein and protein-cellulose interactions are involved in sheath protein retention. It seems probable that the cellulose-associated sheath proteins are also associated with the cellulose of mature stalk cells. Monoclonal antibodies directed against sheath demonstrate extensive sharing of antigenic determinants between sheath proteins and a limited degree of antigenic sharing between sheath and slug cell proteins. All of the proteins recognised by these monoclonal antibodies are developmentally regulated. These results are discussed in terms of the structure of the sheath and its possible role(s) in D. discoideum development.

Regulation of cell differentiation and pattern formation in Dictyostelium development

The International journal of developmental biology, 1994

Free-living cells of Dictyostelium discoideum aggregate to form a slug-shaped cell mass and differentiate into prestalk and prespore cells. The differentiation of prespore cells is characterized by expression of Dp87 gene, the earliest event of prespore differentiation. It encodes a protein which first appears in ER of aggregating cells in a precursor form, is then translocated to prespore vacuoles and modified to a mature form and finally exocytosed to constitute the sorus matrix. The transcription of Dp87 is regulated by the cis-acting region consisting of positive, prespore-specific, negative, non-prespore-specific and positive, cell-type-non-specific elements. Cells expressing Dp87 appear at random in early aggregation streams and centers and then sort out to the posterior part of the slug. Intercellular signals required for prestalk and prespore differentiation were investigated by incubation at a low cell density of disaggregated cells. cAMP is inhibitory at the first and seco...

A monoclonal antibody that interferes with the post-aggregation adhesion of Dictyostelium discoideum cells

FEBS Letters, 1994

A monoclonal antibody that interferes with the EDTA-resistant adhesion of Dictyostelium discoideum slug cells recognised a carbohydrate epitope on four major antigens (95, 90, 35 and 30 kDa) in slug cells. The 35 and 30 kDa antigens were specific for stalks and spores, respectively. The 30 kDa antigen was identified as the cell surface glycoprotein, PsA. Cyclic AMP, acting via cell surface receptors, induced only the 90 kDa slug cell antigen. Slug cell adhesion proteins may be involved in cell-sorting and the glycosylation of the 95 and 90 kDa antigens appeared to be abnormal m a mutant defective in cell-sorting. Previously, a 150 kDa glycoprotein has been strongly implicated in slug cell adhesion and the present work suggests that additional glycoprotein(s) are involved.

Sorting out behaviour of disaggregated cells in the absence of morphogenesis in Dictyostelium discoideum

Development, 1979

Cells disaggregated from slugs of Dictyostelium discoideum were cultured in Bonner’s salt solution in roller tubes. Cells rapidly stuck together to form an amorphous loose agglutinate which was later transformed into a spheroidal tight agglutinate surrounded by slime sheath material. Prespore cells in the loose agglutinate underwent partial dedifferentiation by starting to decompose their specific antigen until formation of the tight agglutinate, in which the antigen was resynthesized. During the process, there was some decrease in the proportion of prespore cells. Changes in the distribution of prespore and prestalk cells in the agglutinates were examined by using immunocytochemical staining. They were randomly distributed in the early agglutinates, but became well separated in 4 h agglutinates in such a way that prestalk cells were completely enveloped by prespore cells. Prestalk cells later came outside to be partially enveloped and finally occupied a hemisphere side by side with...

Monoclonal antibody recognizing gp80, a membrane glycoprotein implicated in intercellular adhesion of Dictyostelium discoideum

Molecular and cellular biology, 1983

WE have raised a monoclonal antibody, designated E28D8, which reacts with an 80,000-dalton membrane glycoprotein (gp80) of Dictyostelium discoideum. gp80 has been implicated in the formation of the EDTA-resistant adhesions ("contact sites A") which appear during development. The monoclonal antibody reacted with other developmentally regulated proteins of D. discoideum, confirming previous results indicating the presence of common antigenic determinants recognized by polyclonal rabbit antibodies directed to gp80. Periodate sensitivity of the determinants suggests that carbohydrate may be necessary for reactivity. Thus, the determinant recognized by E28D8 may result from a posttranslational modification common to a number of proteins. Some of the proteins that carry the determinant were preferentially localized to posterior cells in slugs. Monoclonal antibody E28D8 did not inhibit contact-sites-A-mediated intercellular adhesion. However, gp80 affinity purified on immobilized...

Stage-specific antigens reacting with monoclonal antibodies against contact site A, a cell-surface glycoprotein of Dictyostelium discoideum

Cell differentiation, 1982

Monoclonal antibodies against a glycoprotein presumably involved in adhesion of aggregating Dictyostelium discoideum cells have been used for labeling of the antigen at the cell surface. The antigen is distributed over the whole surface of the cells, apparently in form of small clusters. The antigen appears concomitantly with the acquisition of EDTA-stable adhesiveness typical of aggregation competent cells. In contrast, discoidin I, a lectin whose accumulation during development parallels EDTA-stable adhesiveness in another strain (NC-4), is present in nearly the same amounts of growth phase and aggregating cells of AX2-214, the strain used by use. Thus, no correlation exists in this strain between the expression of discoidin I and the development of cell adhesiveness. The 80 kilodalton glycoprotein typical of aggregation competent cells has been purified by affinity chromatography on a monoclonal antibody column. The purified antigen absorbs adhesion-blocking Fab from rabbits. Ano...

Developmental regulation of transcription of a novel prespore-specific gene (Dp87) in Dictyostelium discoideum

Development, 1993

The Dp87 is a novel prespore specific gene of Dictyostelium discoideum which has a long open reading frame of 555 amino acids. The entire amino acid sequence had low but significant homology to the spore coat proteins, SP96 and SP70, of this organism. When a chimeric gene, containing a 1380 bp of the 5 upstream region of this gene fused with CAT gene, as reporter, was introduced into cells of this organism, it was expressed only in prespore cells of the slug. Transformation experiments, using chimeric genes, containing a series of 5 deletions of the upstream region, showed that 447 bp to 357 bp is an important cis-acting regulatory region for transcription. A nuclear factor(s) that specifically bind to this cis-acting region were detected from slug cell nuclei. Transformation experiments using a chimeric gene consisting of the 5 region between 666 bp and +149 bp of this gene, a β-galactosidase reporter and an actin 8 terminator, showed that the reporter gene was expressed as early a...