The past, present and future of Dictyostelium as a model system

Abstract

The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum has been a preferred model organism during the last 50 years, particularly for the study of cell motility and chemotaxis, phagocytosis and macropinocytosis, intercellular adhesion, pattern formation, caspase-independent cell death and more recently autophagy and social evolution. Being a soil amoeba and professional phagocyte, thus exposed to a variety of potential pathogens, D. discoideum has also proven to be a powerful genetic and cellular model for investigating host-pathogen interactions and microbial infections. The finding that the Dictyostelium genome harbours several homologs of human genes responsible for a variety of diseases has stimulated their analysis, providing new insights into the mechanism of action of the encoded proteins and in some cases into the defect underlying the disease. Recent technological developments have covered the genetic gap between mammals and non-mammalian model organisms, challenging the modelling role of the latter. Is there a future for Dictyostelium discoideum as a model organism? Peculiarities and advantages of Dictyostelium discoideum as model organismAmong the non-mammalian model organisms, Dictyostelium discoideum (in the following Dictyostelium) is unique, due to cell division and development being totally uncoupled, and because of the transition from a unicellular to a multicellular stage during the life cycle. Growing cells proliferate by binary fission but do not differentiate, whereas starving cells undergo multicellular development and differentiation without dividing and without any need for external nutrients. Thus growth and development can be studied separately, and several non-lethal mutants can be isolated

Molecular networking in the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses: insights from mammalian models and the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum

“…In humans, diseases that affect the nervous system share common cellular features such as the accumulation of autophagic vacuoles and mitochondrial dysfunction. These processes, along with other fundamental cellular and developmental processes including cell proliferation, chemotaxis, and differentiation, can be thoroughly studied in Dictyostelium using robust and high-throughput assays [17,18]. In addition, the metazoan-like behaviour of Dictyostelium cells ensures a high probability that findings from the organism can be successfully translated to human cells.…”

Teaching a biology laboratory course using Dictyostelium

“…The activity of cells can be visualized in real time with a simple microscope. • Their unusual, but easily understood life cycle can be related to a variety of basic cell biological concepts (see Bozzaro, 2019). • They allow hypothesis-driven experiments with complicated ideas that can be executed in a three-hour time frame.…”

Development of a Positive Selection High Throughput Genetic Screen in Dictyostelium discoideum

“…Model organisms like Dictyostelium discoideum ( Dictyostelium ) offer numerous advantages for identifying key components of cellular systems. Dictyostelium is particularly useful for these types of studies because a number of different genetic screening technologies have been developed for Dictyostelium biology ( Bozzaro, 2019 ). For example, restriction enzyme-mediated integration (REMI) enables screens that rely on disrupting gene function via integration of plasmid into the Dictyostelium genome ( Guerin and Larochelle, 2002 ).…”