College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
Development. 2011 Feb;138(3):387-96. doi: 10.1242/dev.048934.
Dictyostelium discoideum belongs to a group of multicellular life forms that can also exist for long periods as single cells. This ability to shift between uni- and multicellularity makes the group ideal for studying the genetic changes that occurred at the crossroads between uni- and multicellular life. In this Primer, I discuss the mechanisms that control multicellular development in Dictyostelium discoideum and reconstruct how some of these mechanisms evolved from a stress response in the unicellular ancestor.
粘菌盘基网柄菌属于一类多细胞生物，也可以长期作为单细胞生存。这种在单细胞和多细胞状态之间转换的能力使得该群体成为研究单细胞和多细胞生命之间的交叉点发生的遗传变化的理想选择。在这篇综述中，我讨论了控制粘菌盘基网柄菌多细胞发育的机制，并重建了其中一些机制是如何从单细胞祖先的应激反应中进化而来的。
