title: A transcriptional profile of multicellular development in Dictyostelium discoideum.
abstract: A distinct feature of development in the simple eukaryote Dictyostelium discoideum is an aggregative transition from a unicellular to a multicellular phase. Using genome-wide transcriptional analysis we show that this transition is accompanied by a dramatic change in the expression of more than 25% of the genes in the genome. We also show that the transcription patterns of these genes are not sensitive to the strain or the nutritional history, indicating that Dictyostelium development is a robust physiological process that is accompanied by stereotypical transcriptional events. Analysis of the two differentiated cell types, spores and stalk cells, and their precursors revealed a large number of differentially expressed genes as well as unexpected patterns of gene expression, which shed new light on the timing and possible mechanisms of cell-type divergence. Our findings provide new perspectives on the complexity of the developmental program and the fraction of the genome that is regulated during development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Van Driessche
authors.forename: Chad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katoh
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morio
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sucgang
authors.forename: Miroslava
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ibarra
authors.forename: Hidekazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kuwayama
authors.forename: Tamao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Hideko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Urushihara
authors.forename: Mineko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ochiai
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Eaton
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tollett
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Halter
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuspa
authors.forename: Yoshimasa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Gad
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shaulsky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018503:Genome, Protozoan; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014158:Transcription, Genetic