title: Molecular phylogeny and evolution of morphology in the social amoebas.
abstract: The social amoebas (Dictyostelia) display conditional multicellularity in a wide variety of forms. Despite widespread interest in Dictyostelium discoideum as a model system, almost no molecular data exist from the rest of the group. We constructed the first molecular phylogeny of the Dictyostelia with parallel small subunit ribosomal RNA and a-tubulin data sets, and we found that dictyostelid taxonomy requires complete revision. A mapping of characters onto the phylogeny shows that the dominant trend in dictyostelid evolution is increased size and cell type specialization of fruiting structures, with some complex morphologies evolving several times independently. Thus, the latter may be controlled by only a few genes, making their underlying mechanisms relatively easy to unravel.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, DD15EH Dundee, UK.
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schaap
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Winckler
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Curto
authors.forename: Barrie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Elgie
authors.forename: Hiromitsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hagiwara
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cavender
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Milano-Curto
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Rozen
authors.forename: Theodor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dingermann
authors.forename: Rupert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mutzel
authors.forename: Sandra L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Baldauf
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D016837:Dictyosteliida / Q000145:classification* / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D033761:Spores, Protozoan / Q000166:cytology; D014404:Tubulin / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D014404:Tubulin