Project description:ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters can translocate a broad spectrum of molecules across the cell membrane including physiological cargo and toxins. ABC transporters are known for the role they play in resistance towards anticancer agents in chemotherapy of cancer patients. There are 68 ABC transporters annotated in the genome of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. We have characterized more than half of these ABC transporters through a systematic study of mutations in their genes. We have analyzed morphological and transcriptional phenotypes for these mutants during growth and development and found that most of the mutants exhibited rather subtle phenotypes. A few of the genes may share physiological functions, as reflected in their transcriptional phenotypes. Since most of the abc-transporter mutants showed subtle morphological phenotypes, we utilized these transcriptional phenotypes to identify genes that are important for development by looking for transcripts whose abundance was unperturbed in most of the mutants. We found a set of 668 genes that includes many validated D. discoideum developmental genes. We have also found that abcG6 and abcG18 may have potential roles in intercellular signaling during terminal differentiation of spores and stalks.
Project description:ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters can translocate a broad spectrum of molecules across the cell membrane including physiological cargo and toxins. ABC transporters are known for the role they play in resistance towards anticancer agents in chemotherapy of cancer patients. There are 68 ABC transporters annotated in the genome of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. We have characterized more than half of these ABC transporters through a systematic study of mutations in their genes. We have analyzed morphological and transcriptional phenotypes for these mutants during growth and development and found that most of the mutants exhibited rather subtle phenotypes. A few of the genes may share physiological functions, as reflected in their transcriptional phenotypes. Since most of the abc-transporter mutants showed subtle morphological phenotypes, we utilized these transcriptional phenotypes to identify genes that are important for development by looking for transcripts whose abundance was unperturbed in most of the mutants. We found a set of 668 genes that includes many validated D. discoideum developmental genes. We have also found that abcG6 and abcG18 may have potential roles in intercellular signaling during terminal differentiation of spores and stalks. Transcriptional phenotyping during development of abc transporter mutants in Dictyostelium discoideum
Project description:There is a paucity of data regarding what proteins localize to the mitochondria in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. Therefore, here, we utilized high-throughput tandem mass tag (TMT)-based protein quantitation to identify proteins in the whole-cell lysate, as well as in crude and purified mitochondrial samples. We then calculated the ratio of a protein’s abundance in the mitochondria isolates, both crude and highly purified, versus its abundance in the whole-cell lysate. The resulting value, indicating its enrichment in mitochondrial preparations, was further normalized to the average enrichment ratio of 47 reference mitochondrial proteins, to compute the relative enrichment ratio. Using this approach, we identified 908 putative mitochondrial proteins. We ultimately combined proteomic and in silico analyses to yield a comprehensive mitochondrial protein compendium. Our compendium lays the foundation for future studies to understand the functions of conserved mitochondrial proteins in health and diseases using D. discoideum as the model. It also provides an entry to study many fascinating mitochondrial processes that are unique in protists. Additionally, through comparative genomics, our compendium will complement mitochondrial protein discovery in other organisms and may shed light on the evolution of mitochondrial proteomes and processes.
Project description:MicroRNAs in Amoebozoa: Deep sequencing of the small RNA population in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum reveals developmentally regulated microRNAs
Project description:The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum integrates into a multicellular organism when individual starving cells aggregate and form a mound. The cells then integrate into defined tissues and develop into a fruiting body that consists of a stalk and spores. Aggregation is initially orchestrated by waves of extracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and previous theory suggested that cAMP and other field-wide diffusible signals mediate tissue integration and terminal differentiation as well. Cooperation between cells depends on an allorecognition system comprised of the polymorphic adhesion proteins TgrB1 and TgrC1. Binding between compatible TgrB1 and TgrC1 variants ensures that non-matching cells segregate into distinct aggregates prior to terminal development. Here, we have embedded a small number of cells with incompatible allotypes within fields of developing cells with compatible allotypes. We found that compatibility of the allotype encoded by the tgrB1 and tgrC1 genes is required for tissue integration, as manifested in cell polarization, coordinated movement, and differentiation into prestalk and prespore cells. Our results show that the molecules that mediate allorecognition in D. discoideum also control the integration of individual cells into a unified developing organism and this acts as a gating step for multicellularity. Total 12 samples were used for this analysis. 3 developmental timepoints were analyzed with 2 biological replication. And same 3 developmental timepoint of references (5 RNA mix) with 2 biological replication.
Project description:The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is vulnerable to infection by the pathogen that causes Legionnaire's Disease, Legionella pneumophila. Dictystelium cells lacking the dual-specificity phospahatase DupA are at least partially resistant to infection, and strikingly the expression profile of uninfected dupA null cells mirrors the profile of infected wild-type cells to a considerable extent. This suggests that DupA has a key role in regulating host defence systems.