Skip to main content
The Journal of Cell Biology logoLink to The Journal of Cell Biology
. 1987 Nov 1;105(5):2293–2300. doi: 10.1083/jcb.105.5.2293

Cytokinesis is defective in Dictyostelium mutants with altered phagocytic recognition, adhesion, and vegetative cell cohesion properties

PMCID: PMC2114847  PMID: 3680383

Abstract

Mutants that have been selected for defects in phagocytic recognition, adhesion, and vegetative cell-cell cohesion were found to be larger and more highly multinucleate than their parent strain. This defect is associated with the complex mutant phenotype of these mutants since revertants of the mutants coordinately acquire the wild-type phenotype for all of the defects. The larger size and multinuclearity were due to a high frequency of failure of cytokinesis in cells of wild-type size. This was shown by purifying the small cells in mutant populations and observing their growth and cell division. The mutant phenotype is more penetrant during axenic growth. Most of the mutants are not multinucleate when grown on bacteria. Recently, new mutants have been isolated that are also multinucleate when grown on bacteria by a strong selection procedure for non-adhesion to tissue culture dishes. The pleiotropic mutant phenotype and the greater penetrance of the mutant phenotype in axenic culture can be explained by hypothesizing a deficiency in a membrane component of the actomyosin motor that is involved in all of the processes defective in the mutants.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.3 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Berlin R. D., Oliver J. M. Surface functions during mitosis. II. Quantitation of pinocytosis and kinetic characterization of the mitotic cycle with a new fluorescence technique. J Cell Biol. 1980 Jun;85(3):660–671. doi: 10.1083/jcb.85.3.660. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Berlin R. D., Oliver J. M., Walter R. J. Surface functions during Mitosis I: phagocytosis, pinocytosis and mobility of surface-bound Con A. Cell. 1978 Oct;15(2):327–341. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(78)90002-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cappuccinelli P., Ashworth J. M. The effect of inhibitors of microtubule and microfilament function on the cellular slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum. Exp Cell Res. 1976 Dec;103(2):387–393. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(76)90274-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. De Lozanne A., Spudich J. A. Disruption of the Dictyostelium myosin heavy chain gene by homologous recombination. Science. 1987 May 29;236(4805):1086–1091. doi: 10.1126/science.3576222. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Duffy K. T., Vogel G. Linkage analysis of two phagocytosis receptor loci in Dictyostelium discoideum. J Gen Microbiol. 1984 Aug;130(8):2071–2077. doi: 10.1099/00221287-130-8-2071. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Heath J. P., Dunn G. A. Cell to substratum contacts of chick fibroblasts and their relation to the microfilament system. A correlated interference-reflexion and high-voltage electron-microscope study. J Cell Sci. 1978 Feb;29:197–212. doi: 10.1242/jcs.29.1.197. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Isenberg G., Rathke P. C., Hülsmann N., Franke W. W., Wohlfarth-Bottermann K. E. Cytoplasmic actomyosin fibrils in tissue culture cells: direct proof of contractility by visualization of ATP-induced contraction in fibrils isolated by laser micro-beam dissection. Cell Tissue Res. 1976 Feb 27;166(4):427–443. doi: 10.1007/BF00225909. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Knecht D. A., Loomis W. F. Antisense RNA inactivation of myosin heavy chain gene expression in Dictyostelium discoideum. Science. 1987 May 29;236(4805):1081–1086. doi: 10.1126/science.3576221. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kreis T. E., Birchmeier W. Stress fiber sarcomeres of fibroblasts are contractile. Cell. 1980 Nov;22(2 Pt 2):555–561. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(80)90365-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. McDonald S. A., Durston A. J. The cell cycle and sorting behaviour in Dictyostelium discoideum. J Cell Sci. 1984 Mar;66:195–204. doi: 10.1242/jcs.66.1.195. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Meeusen R. L., Bennett J., Cande W. Z. Effect of microinjected N-ethylmaleimide-modified heavy meromyosin on cell division in amphibian eggs. J Cell Biol. 1980 Sep;86(3):858–865. doi: 10.1083/jcb.86.3.858. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Reaven E. P., Axline S. G. Subplasmalemmal microfilaments and microtubules in resting and phagocytizing cultivated macrophages. J Cell Biol. 1973 Oct;59(1):12–27. doi: 10.1083/jcb.59.1.12. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Schroeder T. E. Actin in dividing cells: contractile ring filaments bind heavy meromyosin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1973 Jun;70(6):1688–1692. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.6.1688. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Stendahl O. I., Hartwig J. H., Brotschi E. A., Stossel T. P. Distribution of actin-binding protein and myosin in macrophages during spreading and phagocytosis. J Cell Biol. 1980 Feb;84(2):215–224. doi: 10.1083/jcb.84.2.215. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Vogel G. Dictyostelium discoideum as a model system to study recognition mechanisms in phagocytosis. Methods Enzymol. 1983;98:421–430. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(83)98170-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Vogel G., Thilo L., Schwarz H., Steinhart R. Mechanism of phagocytosis in Dictyostelium discoideum: phagocytosis is mediated by different recognition sites as disclosed by mutants with altered phagocytotic properties. J Cell Biol. 1980 Aug;86(2):456–465. doi: 10.1083/jcb.86.2.456. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Watts D. J., Ashworth J. M. Growth of myxameobae of the cellular slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum in axenic culture. Biochem J. 1970 Sep;119(2):171–174. doi: 10.1042/bj1190171. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Williams K. L., Kessin R. H., Newell P. C. Parasexual genetics in Dictyostelium discoideum: mitotic analysis of acriflavin resistance and growth in axenic medium. J Gen Microbiol. 1974 Sep;84(1):59–69. doi: 10.1099/00221287-84-1-59. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Willingham M. C., Yamada S. S., Davies P. J., Rutherford A. V., Gallo M. G., Pastan I. Intracellular localization of actin in cultured fibroblasts by electron microscopic immunocytochemistry. J Histochem Cytochem. 1981 Jan;29(1):17–37. doi: 10.1177/29.1.7009728. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Yumura S., Mori H., Fukui Y. Localization of actin and myosin for the study of ameboid movement in Dictyostelium using improved immunofluorescence. J Cell Biol. 1984 Sep;99(3):894–899. doi: 10.1083/jcb.99.3.894. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Cell Biology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES