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. 1987 Sep 25;15(18):7463–7476. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.18.7463

Structural and functional characterization of a Dictyostelium gene encoding a DIF inducible, prestalk-enriched mRNA sequence.

A Ceccarelli 1, S J McRobbie 1, K A Jermyn 1, K Duffy 1, A Early 1, J G Williams 1
PMCID: PMC306261  PMID: 3658700

Abstract

The pDd56 mRNA sequence is highly enriched in prestalk over prespore cells and is inducible by DIF, the putative Dictyostelium stalk-specific morphogen. We show that the pDd56 gene is composed of forty one copies of a twenty four amino acid, cysteine rich repeat. This is highly homologus to a repeat which we have previously shown to compose the major fraction of the pDd63 mRNA, another DIF inducible, prestalk-enriched sequence. The predicted pDd56 protein contains a putative signal peptide but does not appear to contain a transmembrane segment. In combination these features suggest it to be an extrinsic protein and we confirm this elsewhere by showing that the pDd56 gene encodes a known, extracellular protein of the stalk. The pDd56 mRNA is dependent upon exogenous DIF for its accumulation. We show that this control is exerted at the transcriptional level and that a restriction fragment containing 1.7Kb of upstream sequence directs temporally-regulated expression of the gene.

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Selected References

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