Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Smith J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4038703 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Smith Jeff J Queller David C DC Strassmann Joan E JE
BMC evolutionary biology 20140515
<h4>Background</h4>Many microbial phenotypes are the product of cooperative interactions among cells, but their putative fitness benefits are often not well understood. In the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum, unicellular amoebae aggregate when starved and form multicellular fruiting bodies in which stress-resistant spores are held aloft by dead stalk cells. Fruiting bodies are thought to be adaptations for dispersing spores to new feeding sites, but this has not been directly tested ...[more]