An orderly retreat: Dedifferentiation is a regulated process.
Differentiation is a highly regulated process whereby cells become specialized to perform specific functions and lose the ability to perform others. In contrast, the question of whether dedifferentiation is a genetically determined process, or merely an unregulated loss of the differentiated state, has not been resolved. We show here that dedifferentiation in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum relies on a sequence of events that is independent of the original developmental state and involves the coordinated expression of a specific set of genes. A defect in one of these genes, the histidine kinase dhkA, alters the kinetics of dedifferentiation and uncouples the progression of dedifferentiation events. These observations establish dedifferentiation as a genetically determined process and suggest the existence of a developmental checkpoint that ensures a return path to the undifferentiated state.
Katoh
Mariko
M
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Shaw
Chad
C
Xu
Qikai
Q
Van Driessche
Nancy
N
Morio
Takahiro
T
Kuwayama
Hidekazu
H
Obara
Shinji
S
Urushihara
Hideko
H
Tanaka
Yoshimasa
Y
Shaulsky
Gad
G
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000502:physiology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling