A protein containing a serine-rich domain with vesicle fusing properties mediates cell cycle-dependent cytosolic pH regulation.

Initial differentiation in Dictyostelium involves both asymmetric cell division and a cell cycle-dependent mechanism. We previously identified a gene, rtoA, which when disrupted randomizes the cell cycle-dependent mechanism without affecting either the underlying cell cycle or asymmetric differentiation. We find that in wild-type cells, RtoA levels vary during the cell cycle. Cytosolic pH, which normally varies with the cell cycle, is randomized in rtoA cells. The middle 60% of the RtoA protein is 10 tandem repeats of an 11 peptide-long serine-rich motif, which we find has a random coil structure. This domain catalyzes the fusion of phospholipid vesicles in vitro. Conversely, rtoA cells have a defect in the fusion of endocytic vesicles. They also have a decreased exocytosis rate, a decreased pH of endocytic/exocytic vesicles, and an increased average cytosolic pH. Our data indicate that the serine-rich domain of RtoA can mediate membrane fusion and that RtoA can increase the rate of vesicle fusion during processing of endoctyic vesicles. We hypothesize that RtoA modulates initial cell type choice by linking vegetative cell physiology to the cell cycle.

RtoA links initial cell type choice to the cell cycle in Dictyostelium.

In Dictyostelium, initial cell type choice is correlated with the cell-cycle phase of the cell at the time of starvation. We have isolated a mutant, ratioA (rtoA), with a defect in this mechanism that results in an abnormally high percentage of prestalk cells. The rtoA gene has been cloned and sequenced and codes for a novel protein. The cell cycle is normal in rtoA. In the wild type, prestalk cells differentiate from those cells in S or early G2 phase at starvation and prespore cells from cells in late G2 or M phase at starvation. In rtoA mutants, both prestalk and prespore cells originate randomly from cells in any phase of the cell cycle at starvation.

A cell-cycle phase-associated cell-type choice mechanism monitors the cell cycle rather than using an independent timer.

Upon starvation, cells of the simple eukaryote Dictyostelium discoideum aggregate and differentiate into several cell types. Two main cell types are prestalk and prespore, which later usually become stalk and spore cells. The differentiation is plastic, and several factors can alter cell-type ratios. Two mechanisms have been proposed to regulate the initial cell type. We and others have proposed that cell type is initially determined by cell-cycle phase at the time of starvation: prestalk cells are derived from cells which, are the time of starvation, happen to be in a roughly 2-hr-long sector of the cell cycle which overlaps S and early G2 and that certain extracellular factors are then used to maintain the proper prestalk:prespore ratio and to control later stages of development such as the prestalk-to-stalk conversion. To examine the relationship between initial cell-type choice and the cell cycle, and how this 2-hr-long sector is generated, we increased the length of S phase by mild treatments of cells with DNA-synthesis inhibitors. When the fraction of the cell cycle occupied by S phase is increased and the cells are then starved, the prestalk:prespore ratio increases. This increase was observed using two markers for prestalk cells, CP2 and ecmA::lacZ. In addition, there is a close correlation between the fraction of the cell cycle occupied by S phase and the prestalk:prespore ratio, irrespective of total cell-cycle length. These results validate the hypothesis that the initial choice of cell type is determined by cell-cycle phase at the time of starvation, and indicate that the cell-type choice mechanism monitors the cell cycle rather than using an independent 2-hr-long timer started at the beginning of S phase.

Initial cell-type choice in a simple eukaryote: cell-autonomous or morphogen-gradient dependent?

Dictyostelium discoideum is a simple eukaryote that lives as an amoeba until starvation triggers aggregation. The aggregate forms a slug which then develops into a fruiting body with two main cell types, stalk and spore cells. Two mechanisms have been proposed to explain cell-type differentiation. Studies using expression of the ecmA gene as a prestalk cell marker indicated that gradients of morphogens determine cell fate in the slug. However, studies using dyes or the cysteine proteinase 2 (CP2) gene product as a prestalk cell marker indicated that cell autonomous factors such as cell-cycle phase at the time of starvation cause an initial choice of cell fate. To help resolve these differences, we have used transformed cells containing the promoter of the prestalk gene ecmA fused to beta-galactosidase (Jermyn and Williams, 1991) to study the differentiation of Dictyostelium cells at low cell density, at which cell-to-cell interactions and morphogen gradients are minimal. We find that under all conditions of low cell density in which express ion the ecmA fusion gene occurs, it is invariably detected in less than 25% of the cells from a clonal population. This suggests that a cell-autonomous mechanism is involved in ecmA expression. We then used double-labeled immunofluorescence to examine the ontogeny of the CP2-positive and the ecmA-positive cells. In developing aggregates, 9 to 12% of the cells are CP2-positive from 12 to 24 hr of development. The ecmA-positive cells are first detected at 16 hr as a subset of the CP2-positive cells and then increase in number. At approximately 20 hr, the CP2-positive cells and the ecmA-positive cells are almost completely overlapping sets. By late development, all of the CP2-positive cells are ecmA-positive and an additional 10% of the CP2-negative cells are also ecmA-positive. This indicates that up to 20 hr development, ecmA is expressed only in CP2-positive cells. The data thus suggest that cell-cycle phase at the time of starvation causes an initial choice of cell type and that during later development other factors influence cell fate.