Eukaryotic Cell
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Eukaryotic Cell, June 2003, p. 627-637, Vol. 2, No. 3
1535-9778/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/EC.2.3.627-637.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Changing Patterns of Gene Expression in Dictyostelium Prestalk Cell Subtypes Recognized by In Situ Hybridization with Genes from Microarray Analyses

Mineko Maeda,1* Haruyo Sakamoto,1 Negin Iranfar,2 Danny Fuller,2 Toshinari Maruo,1 Satoshi Ogihara,1 Takahiro Morio,3 Hideko Urushihara,3 Yoshimasa Tanaka,3 and William F. Loomis2*

Department of Biology, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043,1 Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan,3 Cell and Developmental Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 920932

Received 5 December 2002/ Accepted 3 February 2003

We used microarrays carrying most of the genes that are developmentally regulated in Dictyostelium to discover those that are preferentially expressed in prestalk cells. Prestalk cells are localized at the front of slugs and play crucial roles in morphogenesis and slug migration. Using whole-mount in situ hybridization, we were able to verify 104 prestalk genes. Three of these were found to be expressed only in cells at the very front of slugs, the PstA cell type. Another 10 genes were found to be expressed in the small number of cells that form a central core at the anterior, the PstAB cell type. The rest of the prestalk-specific genes are expressed in PstO cells, which are found immediately posterior to PstA cells but anterior to 80% of the slug that consists of prespore cells. Half of these are also expressed in PstA cells. At later stages of development, the patterns of expression of a considerable number of these prestalk genes changes significantly, allowing us to further subdivide them. Some are expressed at much higher levels during culmination, while others are repressed. These results demonstrate the extremely dynamic nature of cell-type-specific expression in Dictyostelium and further define the changing physiology of the cell types. One of the signals that affect gene expression in PstO cells is the hexaphenone DIF-1. We found that expression of about half of the PstO-specific genes were affected in a mutant that is unable to synthesize DIF-1, while the rest appeared to be DIF independent. These results indicate that differentiation of some aspects of PstO cells can occur in the absence of DIF-1.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address for Mineko Maeda: Department of Biology, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, 1-16 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan. Phone: 81-6-6850-5810. Fax: 81-6-6850-5817. E-mail: mmaeda{at}bio.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp. Mailing address for William F. Loomis: Cell and Developmental Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093. Phone: (858) 534-2543. Fax: (858) 822-2094. E-mail: wloomis{at}ucsd.edu.

Eukaryotic Cell, June 2003, p. 627-637, Vol. 2, No. 3
1535-9778/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/EC.2.3.627-637.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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