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dictyNews Volume 39 Number 35
dictyNews
Electronic Edition
Volume 39, number 35
December 13, 2013
Please submit abstracts of your papers as soon as they have been
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Abstracts
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The cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase RegA critically regulates encystation in social
and pathogenic amoebas.
Du Q, Schilde C, Birgersson E, Chen ZH, McElroy S, Schaap P.
College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee DD15EH, UK.
Cell Signal. 2013 Oct 31. pii: S0898-6568(13)00319-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.cellsig.2013.10.008. [Epub ahead of print]
Amoebas survive environmental stress by differentiating into encapsulated cysts.
As cysts, pathogenic amoebas resist antibiotics, which particularly counteracts
treatment of vision-destroying Acanthamoeba keratitis. Limited genetic tractability
of amoeba pathogens has left their encystation mechanisms unexplored. The social
amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum forms spores in multicellular fruiting bodies to
survive starvation, while other dictyostelids, such as Polysphondylium pallidum can
additionally encyst as single cells. Sporulation is induced by cAMP acting on PKA,
with the cAMP phosphodiesterase RegA critically regulating cAMP levels. We show here
that RegA is deeply conserved in social and pathogenic amoebas and that deletion of
the RegA gene in P. pallidum causes precocious encystation and prevents cyst
germination. We heterologously expressed and characterized Acanthamoeba RegA and
performed a compound screen to identify RegA inhibitors. Two effective inhibitors
increased cAMP levels and triggered Acanthamoeba encystation. Our results show that
RegA critically regulates Amoebozoan encystation and that components of the cAMP
signalling pathway could be effective targets for therapeutic intervention with
encystation.
Submitted by Qingyou Du [q.du@dundee.ac.uk]
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A RabGAP Regulates Life-Cycle Duration via Trimeric G-protein Cascades in
Dictyostelium discoideum
Hidekazu Kuwayama, Yukihiro Miyanaga, Hideko Urushihara and Masahiro Ueda.
PLOS ONE in press
Background: The life-cycle of cellular slime molds comprises chronobiologically
regulated processes. During the growth phase, the amoeboid cells proliferate at
a definite rate. Upon starvation, they synthesize cAMP as both first and second
messengers in signalling pathways and form aggregates, migrating slugs, and
fruiting bodies, consisting of spores and stalk cells, within 24 h. In Dictyostelium
discoideum, because most growth-specific events cease during development,
proliferative and heterochronic mutations are not considered to be interrelated
and no genetic factor governing the entire life-cycle duration has ever been
identified.
Methodology/Principal Findings: Using yeast 2-hybrid library screening, we isolated
a Dictyostelium discoideum RabGAP, Dd Rbg-3, as a candidate molecule by which the
Dictyostelium Galpha2 subunit directs its effects. Rab GTPase-activating protein,
RabGAP, acts as a negative regulator of Rab small GTPases, which orchestrate the
intracellular membrane trafficking involved in cell proliferation. Deletion mutants
of Dd rbg-3 exhibited an increased growth rate and a shortened developmental period,
while an overexpression mutant demonstrated the opposite effects. We also show that
Dd Rbg-3 interacts with 2 Galpha2 subunits in an activity-dependent manner in vitro.
Furthermore, both human and Caenorhabditis elegans rbg-3 homologs complemented the
Ddrbg-3Ðdeletion phenotype in D. discoideum, indicating that similar pathways may
be generally conserved in multicellular organisms.
Conclusions/Significance: Our findings suggest that Dd Rbg-3 acts as a key element
regulating the duration of D. discoideum life-span potentially via trimeric
G-protein cascades.
Submitted by Hidekazu Kuwayama [hidekuwayama@biol.tsukuba.ac.jp]
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[End dictyNews, volume 39, number 35]
