Phospholipase C in Dictyostelium discoideum. Identification of stimulatory and inhibitory surface receptors and G-proteins.

A combined biochemical and genetic approach was used to show that phospholipase C in the cellular slime mould Dictyostelium is under dual regulation by the chemoattractant cyclic AMP (cAMP). This dual regulation involves stimulatory and inhibitory surface receptors and G-proteins. In wild-type cells both cAMP and guanosine 5'-[gamma-thio]triphosphate (GTP[S]) stimulated phospholipase C. In contrast, mutant fgd A, lacking the G-protein alpha-subunit G alpha 2, showed no stimulation by either cAMP or GTP[S], indicating that G alpha 2 is the stimulatory G-protein. In mutant fgd C cAMP did not stimulate phospholipase C, but stimulation by GTP[S] was normal, suggesting that the defect in this mutant is upstream of the stimulatory G alpha 2. Inhibition of phospholipase C was achieved in wild-type cells by the partial antagonist 3'-deoxy-3'-aminoadenosine 3',5'-phosphate (3'NH-cAMP). This inhibition was no longer observed in transformed cell lines lacking either the surface cAMP receptor cAR1 or the G-protein alpha-subunit G alpha 1; in these cells the agonist cAMP still activated phospholipase C. These results indicate that Dictyostelium phospholipase C is regulated via a stimulatory and an inhibitory pathway. The inhibitory pathway is composed of the surface receptor cAR1 and the G-protein G1. The stimulatory pathway consists of an unknown cAMP receptor (possibly the fgd C gene product) and the G-protein G2.