title: The Amoebozoa.
abstract: The model organism Dictyostelium discoideum is a member of the Amoebozoa, one of the six major -divisions of eukaryotes. Amoebozoa comprise a wide variety of amoeboid and flagellate organisms with single cells measuring from 5 μm to several meters across. They have adopted many different life styles and sexual behaviors and can live in all but the most extreme environments. This chapter provides an overview of Amoebozoan diversity and compares roads towards multicellularity within the Amoebozoa with inventions of multicellularity in other protist divisions. The chapter closes with a scenario for the evolution of Dictyostelid multicellularity from an Amoebozoan stress response.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schilde
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schaap
mesh_terms: D056894:Amoebozoa / Q000145:classification / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D009024:Morphogenesis; D010802:Phylogeny; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D033761:Spores, Protozoan / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases