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

在模式生物盘状盘状体（Dictyostelium disideum）中，最前面的部分，即鼻涕虫的尖端，起着组织者的作用，因为当移植到另一个鼻涕虫身上时，它会形成第二个鼻涕虫。在此，我利用包括本研究新发现的基因标记对鼻涕虫尖端进行了详细的解剖分析，发现鼻涕虫尖端的pstA区至少由两种前柄亚型（pstA1和pstA2）组成。通过DNA亲和纯化，髓磷脂基因调控转录因子A （MrfA）的同源物被确定为pstA2细胞分化的关键因子。mrfA的特征表明该基因在低等真核生物中可能具有组织者功能。

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.