Sporulation delay by stable cAMP analogues in the slime moldPhysarum polycephalum

Two potential evolutionary origins of the fruiting bodies of the dictyostelid slime moulds

Dictyostelium discoideum and the other dictyostelid slime moulds ('social amoebae') are popular model organisms best known for their demonstration of sorocarpic development. In this process, many cells aggregate to form a multicellular unit that ultimately becomes a fruiting body bearing asexual spores. Several other unrelated microorganisms undergo comparable processes, and in some it is evident that their multicellular development evolved from the differentiation process of encystation. While it has been argued that the dictyostelid fruiting body had similar origins, it has also been proposed that dictyostelid sorocarpy evolved from the unicellular fruiting process found in other amoebozoan slime moulds. This paper reviews the developmental biology of the dictyostelids and other relevant organisms and reassesses the two hypotheses on the evolutionary origins of dictyostelid development. Recent advances in phylogeny, genetics, and genomics and transcriptomics indicate that further research is necessary to determine whether or not the fruiting bodies of the dictyostelids and their closest relatives, the myxomycetes and protosporangids, are homologous.

Nuclear polyphosphate as a possible source of energy during the sporulation of Physarum polycephalum

31P NMR spectroscopic analysis of the polyphosphate pool in cellular and nuclear extracts of Physarum polycephalum demonstrates that plasmodia and cysts contain inorganic polyphosphates with an average chain length of about 100 phosphates. However, only during sporulation are these high-molecular-weight polyphosphates degraded to a lower molecular weight corresponding to an average chain length of about 10 phosphates. Since polyphosphates are degraded even in the presence of a sufficiently large pool of inorganic phosphate, produced by intracellular injection, we conclude that the degradation of polyphosphates serves in supplying energy for biosynthesis during sporulation rather than in increasing the availability of phosphate.