Somatic cell parasitism and the evolution of somatic tissue compatibility.
Selection pressures proposed to account for the convergent evolution of self/not-self recognition systems in lower organisms include defense against microbial parasites and somatic cell variants. Direct support for the existence of somatic cell parasites in natural populations has been lacking. I here report the occurrence of a somatic cell parasite in the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium mucoroides and discuss the implications of this phenomenon to the evolution of mechanisms of somatic tissue compatibility.
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010271:Parasites / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny