title: RtoA links initial cell type choice to the cell cycle in Dictyostelium.
abstract: In Dictyostelium, initial cell type choice is correlated with the cell-cycle phase of the cell at the time of starvation. We have isolated a mutant, ratioA (rtoA), with a defect in this mechanism that results in an abnormally high percentage of prestalk cells. The rtoA gene has been cloned and sequenced and codes for a novel protein. The cell cycle is normal in rtoA. In the wild type, prestalk cells differentiate from those cells in S or early G2 phase at starvation and prespore cells from cells in late G2 or M phase at starvation. In rtoA mutants, both prestalk and prespore cells originate randomly from cells in any phase of the cell cycle at starvation.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Rice University, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Ammann
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Spann
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Gomer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002453:Cell Cycle; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics; D005800:Genes, Fungal; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D014741:Video Recording
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C103074:RtoA protein, Dictyostelium discoideum