Continuous communication between cells is necessary for development of any multicellular
organism and depends on the recognition of secreted signals. A wide range of molecules …

In conditions of starvation, the free living amoebae of Dictyostelium enter a developmental
program: The cells aggregate by chemotaxis to form a multicellular structure that undergoes …

Dictyostelia are soil amoebae capable of extraordinary feats of survival, motility, chemotaxis,
and development. Characterised by their ability to transform from a single-celled organism …

Pentraxins such as serum amyloid P (SAP; also known as PTX2) regulate several aspects of
the innate immune system. SAP inhibits the differentiation of monocyte-derived fibroblast …

Aggregative multicellularity, resulting in formation of a spore-bearing fruiting body, evolved
at least six times independently amongst both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Amongst …

Developing Dictyostelium cells form large aggregation streams that break up into groups of
0.2× 105 to 1× 105 cells. Each group then becomes a fruiting body. smlA cells oversecrete …

Many cells appear to secrete factors called chalones that limit their proliferation, but in most
cases the factors have not been identified. We found that growing Dictyostelium cells secrete …

A remarkable aspect of Dictyostelium development is that cells form evenly sized groups
of∼ 2× 10 4 cells. A secreted 450 kDa protein complex called counting factor (CF) regulates …

The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is one of the leading model systems used to
study how cells count themselves to determine the number and/or density of cells. In this …

Escalante 1 pm Page 1 Dictyostelium as a developmental system 819 Review Dictyostelium
discoideum: a model system for differentiation and patterning RICARDO ESCALANTE* and …