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Development pp 83–97Cite as

Cell-Cell Communication in Dictyostelium

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Abstract

Dictyostelium discoideum has become an extensively studied model for cellular and developmental processes in higher organisms. It is attractive for these purposes because in its cell biology and certain aspects of its development it is remarkably similar to higher eukaryotes, but it can be analyzed using genetic techniques that are readily applicable only to lower eukaryotes. Dictyostelium cells inhabit the surface layers of soil and leaf litter in forests. They ingest bacteria and yeasts and, when food is plentiful, they divide with a doubling time of approximately 4 h. Cells monitor the presence of both their food source and the neighbouring Dictyostelium cells and, when the ratio of these two reaches a critical level, they opt for development. The developing cells pass through sequential waves of gene expression, regulated by extracellular signalling molecules, to yield a mass of spores supported by a stalk (Fig.1).

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Authors
  1. Pauline Schaap
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  2. Jeffrey Williams
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. MPI für Molekulare Genetik, Ihnestraße 73, D-14195, Berlin, Germany

    Vincenzo E. A. Russo

  2. Leeds Institute of Plant Biochemistry and Agriculture, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS29JT, Great Britain

    David J. Cove

  3. Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 80302, CO, USA

    Lois G. Edgar

  4. Whitehead Institute, Nine Cambridge Center, Cambridge, 02141, MA, USA

    Rudolf Jaenisch

  5. MPI für Züchtungsforschung, Carl-von-Linné-Weg 10, Köln, D-50829, Germany

    Francesco Salamini

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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg New York

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Schaap, P., Williams, J. (1999). Cell-Cell Communication in Dictyostelium . In: Russo, V.E.A., Cove, D.J., Edgar, L.G., Jaenisch, R., Salamini, F. (eds) Development. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59828-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59828-9_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64141-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-59828-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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