Microbiology
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

IMMEDIATE OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE
This Article
Free via Open Access: OA
Right arrow OA Free Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary movies and tables
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
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 arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Serafimidis, I.
Right arrow Articles by Kay, R. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Serafimidis, I.
Right arrow Articles by Kay, R. R.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Serafimidis, I.
Right arrow Articles by Kay, R. R.
Microbiology 153 (2007), 619-630; DOI  10.1099/mic.0.2006/000562-0
© 2007 Society for General Microbiology

A new environmentally resistant cell type from Dictyostelium

Ioannis Serafimidis1, Gareth Bloomfield1, Jason Skelton2, Al Ivens2 and Robert R. Kay1

1 MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK
2 The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire CB10 1SA, UK

Correspondence
Robert R. Kay
rrk{at}mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk

This paper describes the serendipitous discovery and first characterization of a new resistant cell type from Dictyostelium, for which the name aspidocyte (from aspis: Greek for shield) is proposed. These cells are induced from amoebae by a range of toxins including heavy metals and antibiotics, and were first detected by their striking resistance to detergent lysis. Aspidocytes are separate, rounded or irregular-shaped cells, which are immotile but remain fully viable; once the toxic stress is removed, they revert to amoeboid cells within an hour. Induction takes a few hours and is completely blocked by the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide. Aspidocytes lack a cell wall and their resistance to detergent lysis is active, requiring continued energy metabolism, and may be assisted by a complete cessation of endocytosis, as measured by uptake of the dye FM1-43. Microarray analysis shows that aspidocytes have a distinct pattern of gene expression, with a number of genes up-regulated that are predicted to be involved in lipid metabolism. Aspidocytes were initially detected in a hypersensitive mutant, in which the AMP deaminase gene is disrupted, suggesting that the inductive pathway involves AMP levels or metabolism. Since aspidocytes can also be induced from wild-type cells and are much more resistant than amoebae to a membrane-disrupting antibiotic, it is possible that they are an adaptation allowing Dictyostelium cells to survive a sudden onslaught of toxins in the wild.

Abbreviations: DIF, differentiation inducing factor; DES, diethylstilboestrol

Microarray data deposited at ArrayExpress (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/); submission E-SGRP-5.

Two movies and two tables are available as supplementary data with the online version of this paper.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
INT J SYST EVOL MICROBIOL MICROBIOLOGY J GEN VIROL
J MED MICROBIOL ALL SGM JOURNALS
Copyright © 2007 Society for General Microbiology.