A new social gene in Dictyostelium discoideum, chtB

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dc.citation.issueNumber4en_US
dc.citation.journalTitleBMC Evolutionary Biologyen_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber13en_US
dc.contributor.authorSantorelli, Lorenzo A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorKuspa, Adamen_US
dc.contributor.authorShaulsky, Gaden_US
dc.contributor.authorQueller, David C.en_US
dc.contributor.authorStrassmann, Joan E.en_US
dc.contributor.funderNational Science Foundationen_US
dc.contributor.publisherBioMed Centralen_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-04-29T19:08:37Zen_US
dc.date.available2013-04-29T19:08:37Zen_US
dc.date.issued2013en_US
dc.description.abstractBackground: Competitive social interactions are ubiquitous in nature, but their genetic basis is difficult to determine. Much can be learned from single gene knockouts in a eukaryote microbe. The mutants can be competed with the parent to discern the social impact of that specific gene. Dictyostelium discoideum is a social amoeba that exhibits cooperative behavior in the construction of a multicellular fruiting body. It is a good model organism to study the genetic basis of cooperation since it has a sequenced genome and it is amenable to genetic manipulation. When two strains of D. discoideum are mixed, a cheater strain can exploit its social partner by differentiating more spore than its fair share relative to stalk cells. Cheater strains can be generated in the lab or found in the wild and genetic analyses have shown that cheating behavior can be achieved through many pathways. Results: We have characterized the knockout mutant chtB, which was isolated from a screen for cheater mutants that were also able to form normal fruiting bodies on their own. When mixed in equal proportions with parental strain cells, chtB mutants contributed almost 60% of the total number of spores. To do so, chtB cells inhibit wild type cells from becoming spores, as indicated by counts and by the wild type cells’ reduced expression of the prespore gene, cotB. We found no obvious fitness costs (morphology, doubling time in liquid medium, spore production, and germination efficiency) associated with the cheating ability of the chtB knockout. Conclusions: In this study we describe a new gene in D. discoideum, chtB, which when knocked out inhibits the parental strain from producing spores. Moreover, under lab conditions, we did not detect any fitness costs associated with this behavior.en_US
dc.embargo.termsnoneen_US
dc.identifier.citationSantorelli, Lorenzo A., Kuspa, Adam, Shaulsky, Gad, et al.. "A new social gene in Dictyostelium discoideum, chtB." <i>BMC Evolutionary Biology,</i> 13, no. 4 (2013) http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/13/4.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/13/4en_US
dc.identifier.grantIDEF0626963 (National Science Foundation)en_US
dc.identifier.grantIDDEB0918931 (National Science Foundation)en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/71013en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsThis item is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/en_US
dc.subject.keywordcheating behavioren_US
dc.subject.keywordsocial evolutionen_US
dc.subject.keywordD. discoideumen_US
dc.subject.keywordpre-spore markeren_US
dc.subject.keywordchtBen_US
dc.titleA new social gene in Dictyostelium discoideum, chtBen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
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