Towards understanding mechanisms of an organizer development in social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum

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In the model organism, Dictyostelium discoideum, the most anterior part, slug tip, behaves as an organizer because when transplanted to another slug, it results in forming a second slug. Here I analyzed the anatomy of the slug tip in detail using gene markers including a newly identified one by this study, and revealed that the slug tip, the pstA region, consists of at least two prestalk subtypes (pstA1 and pstA2). By DNA affinity purification, an orthologue of the Myelin-gene regulatory transcription factor A (MrfA) was identified as a key factor in pstA2 cell differentiation. The characterization of mrfA suggested possible functions of the gene in organizer function in lower eukaryotes.