Dictyostelium discoideum spends most of its life as vegetative amoebae, but, when food becomes limiting, the amoebae stop dividing, aggregate and develop into a mass of spores supported by a stalk. Unexpectedly, Brock and Gomer have now found that growing Dictyostelium cells secrete a protein (called AprA, for autocrine proliferation repressor) that represses their proliferation (see p. 4553). They show that aprA-null cells proliferate faster than wild-type cells, and that purified AprA slows the proliferation of both wild-type and aprA-null cells. However, upon starvation, aprA-null cells make spores less efficiently than wild-type cells do. Overall, these results indicate that there is an evolutionary advantage to slowing proliferation when Dictyostelium cells get crowded. In addition, the researchers suggest that AprA may be part of a Dictyostelium chalone–in metazoa,chalones are secreted autocrine factors thought to control organ size.
Crowd control the Dicty way
Crowd control the Dicty way. Development 15 October 2005; 132 (20): e2004. doi:
Download citation file:
Advertisement
Cited by
Biologists @ 100 - join us in Liverpool in March 2025

We are excited to invite you to a unique scientific conference, celebrating the 100-year anniversary of The Company of Biologists, and bringing together our different communities. The conference will incorporate the Spring Meetings of the BSCB and the BSDB, the JEB Symposium Sensory Perception in a Changing World and a DMM programme on antimicrobial resistance. Find out more and register by 28 February 2025 to join us in March 2025 in Liverpool, UK.
Call for papers – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues

Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editors Meritxell Huch (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany) and Mansi Srivastava (Harvard University and Museum of Comparative Zoology, USA), working alongside our team of academic Editors. Submit your articles by 15 May 2025.
A case for broadening our view of mechanism in developmental biology

In this Perspective, B. Duygu Özpolat and colleagues survey researchers on their views on what it takes to infer mechanism in developmental biology. They examine what factors shape our idea of what we mean by ‘mechanism’ and suggest a path forward that embraces a broad outlook on the diversity of studies that advance knowledge in our field.
In preprints
Did you know that Development publishes perspectives on recent preprints? These articles help our readers navigate the ever-growing preprint literature. We welcome proposals for ‘In preprints’ articles, so please do get in touch if you’d like to contribute.