Sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase has a central role in the development of Dictyostelium discoideum.
Sphingosine-1-phosphate, a product of sphingomyelin degradation, is an important element of signal transduction pathways that regulate cell proliferation and cell death. We have demonstrated additional roles for sphingosine-1-phosphate in growth and multicellular development. The specific disruption in Dictyostelium discoideum of the sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase gene, which encodes the enzyme that catalyzes sphingosine-1-phosphate degradation, results in a mutant strain with aberrant morphogenesis, as well as an increase in viability during stationary phase. The absence of sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase affects multiple stages throughout development, including the cytoskeletal architecture of aggregating cells, the ability to form migrating slugs, and the control of cell type-specific gene expression and terminal spore differentiation. This pleiotropic effect, which is due to the loss of sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase, establishes sphingolipids as pivotal regulatory molecules in a wide range of processes in multicellular development.
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Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-7400, USA.
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D000199:Actins / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000446:Aldehyde-Lyases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D008246:Lysophospholipids; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009068:Movement; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009154:Mutation; D011554:Pseudopodia / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013110:Sphingosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism*
D000199:Actins; D008246:Lysophospholipids; C060506:sphingosine 1-phosphate; D000446:Aldehyde-Lyases; C022649:sphingosine 1-phosphate lyase (aldolase); D013110:Sphingosine