ArticleScientific reports2015
A conserved signalling pathway for amoebozoan encystation that was co-opted for multicellular development.
Article in Scientific reports, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Unlocking CRISPR-Cas9 editing for widely diverse Dictyostelid species.Molecular systems biology · 2026Article
- Genome editing across Dictyostelia species enables comparative functional genetics of social amoebas.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Emerging roles for diguanylate cyclase during the evolution of soma in dictyostelia.BMC ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Development of the dictyostelid Polysphondylium violaceum does not require secreted cAMP.Biology open · 2023Article
- Adenylate cyclase A amplification and functional diversification during Polyspondylium pallidum development.EvoDevo · 2022Article
- Autophagy of the somatic stalk cells likely nurses the propagating spores of Dictyostelid social amoebas.Open research Europe · 2022Article
- Novel RNAseq-Informed Cell-type Markers and Their Regulation Alter Paradigms ofFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Article
- Review
- From environmental sensing to developmental control: cognitive evolution in dictyostelid social amoebas.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Discrimination Experiments in Entamoeba and Evidence from Other Protists Suggest Pathogenic Amebas Cooperate with Kin to Colonize Hosts and Deter Rivals.The Journal of eukaryotic microbiology · 2019Review
- Evolution of multicellularity in Dictyostelia.The International journal of developmental biology · 2019Review
- The transcription factor Spores Absent A is a PKA dependent inducer of Dictyostelium sporulation.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- Multiple Roots of Fruiting Body Formation in Amoebozoa.Genome biology and evolution · 2018Article
- Glycogen synthase kinase 3 promotes multicellular development over unicellular encystation in encysting Dictyostelia.EvoDevo · 2018Article
- The Origin of Animal Multicellularity and Cell Differentiation.Developmental cell · 2017Review
- Evolution of developmental signalling in Dictyostelid social amoebas.Current opinion in genetics & development · 2016Review
- Secreted Cyclic Di-GMP Induces Stalk Cell Differentiation in the Eukaryote Dictyostelium discoideum.Journal of bacteriology · 2016Review
- The Evolution of Aggregative Multicellularity and Cell-Cell Communication in the Dictyostelia.Journal of molecular biology · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The evolution of multicellularity required novel mechanisms for intercellular communication, but their origin is unclear. Dictyostelium cells exchange signals to position specialized cell types in multicellular spore-bearing structures. These signals activate complex pathways that converge on activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). Genes controlling PKA were detected in the Dictyostelid unicellular ancestors, which like most protists form dormant cysts when experiencing environmental stress. We deleted PKA and the adenylate cyclases AcrA and AcgA, which synthesize cAMP for PKA activation, in the intermediate species Polysphondylium, which can develop into either cysts or into multicellular structures. Loss of PKA prevented multicellular development, but also completely blocked encystation. Loss of AcrA and AcgA, both essential for sporulation in Dictyostelium, did not affect Polysphondylium sporulation, but prevented encystation. We conclude that multicellular cAMP signalling was co-opted from PKA regulation of protist encystation with progressive refunctionalization of pathway components.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.