Transcriptional regulation of Dictyostelium pattern formation

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Abstract
On starvation, Dictyostelium cells form a terminally differentiated structure, known as the fruiting body, which comprises stalk and spore cells. Their precursors–prestalk and prespore cells–are spatially separated and accessible in a migratory structure known as the slug. This simplicity and manipulability has made Dictyostelium attractive to both experimental and theoretical developmental biologists. However, this outward simplicity conceals a surprising degree of developmental sophistication. Multiple prestalk subtypes are formed and undertake a co‐ordinated series of morphogenetic cell movements to generate the fruiting body. This review describes recent advances in understanding the signalling pathways that generate prestalk‐cell heterogeneity, focusing on the roles of the prestalk‐cell inducer differentiation‐inducing factor‐1 (DIF‐1), the tip inducer cAMP and the transcription factors that mediate their actions; these include signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins, basic leucine zipper (bZIP) proteins and a Myb protein of a class previously described only in plants.