The Cold War of the Social Amoebae

Shaulsky, Gad; Kessin, Richard H.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.06.024

Cited by 61 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Shaulsky & Kessin (2007) suggested that developing quickly might be a way to cheat, although a number of mutants with this characteristic do not. The rblA-null mutant develops more quickly than wild-type, but loses in chimeras with wild-type because of an extreme sensitivity to DIF also conferred by the mutation (MacWilliams et al 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Control of cheaters is essential in these transitions, since cheating can undermine cooperation. In Dictyostelium discoideum, formerly solitary amoebae aggregate when faced with starvation, and roughly 20 per cent of the cells altruistically die to form a stalk that holds aloft a sorus of hardy reproductively capable spores (Shaulsky & Kessin 2007). The stalk is thought to aid in the dispersal of these spores to more favourable environments by water and passing invertebrates (Bonner 1982;Huss 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An invitation to die: initiators of sociality in a social amoeba become selfish spores

2010

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Greater size and strength are common attributes of contest winners. Even in social insects with high cooperation, the right to reproduce falls to the well-fed queens rather than to poorly fed workers. In Dictyostelium discoideum , formerly solitary amoebae aggregate when faced with starvation, and some cells die to form a stalk which others ride up to reach a better location to sporulate. The first cells to starve have lower energy reserves than those that starve later, and previous studies have shown that the better-fed cells in a mix tend to form disproportionately more reproductive spores. Therefore, one might expect that the first cells to starve and initiate the social stage should act altruistically and form disproportionately more of the sterile stalk, thereby enticing other better-fed cells into joining the aggregate. This would resemble caste determination in social insects, where altruistic workers are typically fed less than reproductive queens. However, we show that the opposite result holds: the first cells to starve become reproductive spores, presumably by gearing up for competition and outcompeting late starvers to become prespore first. These findings pose the interesting question of why others would join selfish organizers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An invitation to die: initiators of sociality in a social amoeba become selfish spores

2010

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“…The pinnacles of sociality among microbes may be the curiously parallel life cycles of the eukaryote Dictyostelium Shaulsky & Kessin 2003) and the prokaryote Myxococcus (Velicer & Stredwick 2002). In each, when feeding cells starve, they aggregate and go through a developmental process that results in fruiting bodies where a fraction of the cells survive as hardy spores.…”

Section: Groups Of Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond society: the evolution of organismality

Queller

Strassmann

2009

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

318

298

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The evolution of organismality is a social process. All organisms originated from groups of simpler units that now show high cooperation among the parts and are nearly free of conflicts. We suggest that this near-unanimous cooperation be taken as the defining trait of organisms. Consistency then requires that we accept some unconventional organisms, including some social insect colonies, some microbial groups and viruses, a few sexual partnerships and a number of mutualistic associations. Whether we call these organisms or not, a major task is to explain such cooperative entities, and our survey suggests that many of the traits commonly used to define organisms are not essential. These non-essential traits include physical contiguity, indivisibility, clonality or high relatedness, development from a single cell, short-term and long-term genetic cotransmission, germ -soma separation and membership in the same species.

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“…These groups develop into multicellular fruiting body structures composed of a mass of stress-resistant spores supported by an approximately 1-mm-high stalk (24). While the stalk cells inevitably die in an act of apparent altruism (31), the presence of nutrients stimulates spore germination and a continuation of proliferation (13). Following development, aprA Ϫ and cfaD Ϫ cells form fewer viable spores than the wild type (4, 11), suggesting that AprA and CfaD increase the fitness of Dictyostelium during development.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%