Regulated sulfur sequestration promotes multicellularity during nutrient limitation (scRNA-Seq)
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ABSTRACT: Dictyostelium discoideum behavior depends on nutrients1. When sufficient food is present these amoebae exist in a unicellular state, but upon starvation they aggregate into a multicellular organism2,3. This unique biology makes D. discoideum an ideal model for investigating how fundamental metabolic pathways command cell differentiation and function. We show here that reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated as a consequence of nutrient limitation, lead to the sequestration of the amino acid cysteine in the antioxidant glutathione, limiting the use of its sulfur atom for processes such as protein translation and FeS cluster-containing enzyme activity that contribute to mitochondrial metabolism and cellular proliferation. Such regulated sulfur sequestration maintains D. discoideum in a non-proliferating state that paves the way for multicellular development. This new mechanism of ROS signaling highlights oxygen and sulfur as simple, early evolutionary signaling molecules dictating cell fate, with implications for responses to nutrient fluctuations in higher eukaryotes.
ORGANISM(S): Dictyostelium discoideum
PROVIDER: GSE164010 | GEO | 2021/02/24
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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