This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Stepanovic, V.
Right arrow Articles by Soll, D. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Stepanovic, V.
Right arrow Articles by Soll, D. R.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Eukaryotic Cell, April 2005, p. 775-786, Vol. 4, No. 4
1535-9778/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.4.4.775-786.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Intracellular Role of Adenylyl Cyclase in Regulation of Lateral Pseudopod Formation during Dictyostelium Chemotaxis

Vesna Stepanovic,1 Deborah Wessels,1 Karla Daniels,1 William F. Loomis,2 and David R. Soll1*

W. M. Keck Dynamic Image Analysis Facility, Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa,1 Department of Biology, University of California—San Diego, La Jolla, California2

Received 20 December 2004/ Accepted 7 February 2005

Cyclic AMP (cAMP) functions as the extracellular chemoattractant in the aggregation phase of Dictyostelium development. There is some question, however, concerning what role, if any, it plays intracellularly in motility and chemotaxis. To test for such a role, the behavior of null mutants of acaA, the adenylyl cyclase gene that encodes the enzyme responsible for cAMP synthesis during aggregation, was analyzed in buffer and in response to experimentally generated spatial and temporal gradients of extracellular cAMP. acaA– cells were defective in suppressing lateral pseudopods in response to a spatial gradient of cAMP and to an increasing temporal gradient of cAMP. acaA– cells were incapable of chemotaxis in natural waves of cAMP generated by majority control cells in mixed cultures. These results indicate that intracellular cAMP and, hence, adenylyl cyclase play an intracellular role in the chemotactic response. The behavioral defects of acaA– cells were surprisingly similar to those of cells of null mutants of regA, which encodes the intracellular phosphodiesterase that hydrolyzes cAMP and, hence, functions opposite adenylyl cyclase A (ACA). This result is consistent with the hypothesis that ACA and RegA are components of a receptor-regulated intracellular circuit that controls protein kinase A activity. In this model, the suppression of lateral pseudopods in the front of a natural wave depends on a complete circuit. Hence, deletion of any component of the circuit (i.e., RegA or ACA) would result in the same chemotactic defect.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: 302 BBE, Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. Phone: (319) 335-1117. Fax: (319) 335-2772. E-mail: david-soll{at}uiowa.edu.

Eukaryotic Cell, April 2005, p. 775-786, Vol. 4, No. 4
1535-9778/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/EC.4.4.775-786.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Katoh, M., Chen, G., Roberge, E., Shaulsky, G., Kuspa, A. (2007). Developmental Commitment in Dictyostelium discoideum. Eukaryot Cell 6: 2038-2045 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wessels, D., Lusche, D. F., Kuhl, S., Heid, P., Soll, D. R. (2007). PTEN plays a role in the suppression of lateral pseudopod formation during Dictyostelium motility and chemotaxis. J. Cell Sci. 120: 2517-2531 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kuzdzal-Fick, J. J., Foster, K. R., Queller, D. C., Strassmann, J. E. (2007). Exploiting new terrain: an advantage to sociality in the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum. Behav Ecol 18: 433-437 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Brzostowski, J. A., Kimmel, A. R. (2006). Nonadaptive Regulation of ERK2 in Dictyostelium: Implications for Mechanisms of cAMP Relay. Mol. Biol. Cell 17: 4220-4227 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Veltman, D. M., Van Haastert, P. J.M. (2006). Guanylyl Cyclase Protein and cGMP Product Independently Control Front and Back of Chemotaxing Dictyostelium Cells. Mol. Biol. Cell 17: 3921-3929 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chen, S., Segall, J. E. (2006). EppA, a Putative Substrate of DdERK2, Regulates Cyclic AMP Relay and Chemotaxis in Dictyostelium discoideum.. Eukaryot Cell 5: 1136-1146 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bastian, P., Posch, B., Lang, K., Niggemann, B., Zaenker, K. S., Hatt, H., Entschladen, F. (2006). Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase in the G Protein-Coupled Receptor-Induced Chemokinesis and Chemotaxis of MDA-MB-468 Breast Carcinoma Cells: A Comparison with Leukocytes. Mol Cancer Res 4: 411-421 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wessels, D., Srikantha, T., Yi, S., Kuhl, S., Aravind, L., Soll, D. R. (2006). The Shwachman-Bodian-Diamond syndrome gene encodes an RNA-binding protein that localizes to the pseudopod of Dictyostelium amoebae during chemotaxis. J. Cell Sci. 119: 370-379 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»