Participation of the cell surfaces determining the developmental courses in the cellular slime mould dictyostelium purpureum.
Dictyostelium purpureum S5 and S6, mating type strains, form fruiting-bodies in a monoclonal culture, but product macrocysts in a mix culture. The effects of Concanavalin A (Con A) on both fruiting-body formation and macrocyst formation, and changes of Con A-mediated cell agglutinability during development were studied. It was found that Con A inhibits macrocyst formation but not fruiting-body formation, and that macrocyst-forming cells are much more susceptible to Con A agglutination than are fruiting-body-forming cells during the aggregation stages. When fruiting-body-forming cells are treated with either trypsin or alpha-chymotrypsin, their Con A agglutinability is enhanced to the same extent as that of macrocyst-forming cells. It was also found that when S6 cells are treated with proteases they sometimes produce normal macrocysts even in a monoclonal culture. The results obtained in these experiments showed that the surface properties of fruiting-body-forming cells and macrocyst-forming cells are different, and that the cell surface might play an important role in determining the two developmental courses.
D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000494:pharmacology; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000494:pharmacology
D003208:Concanavalin A; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases