Dictyostelium discoideum

Dictyostelium discoideum is a soil-dwelling amoeba that eats bacteria and can aggregate into a multicellular slug and fruiting body when food is scarce.

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate: A nucleotide that acts as an intracellular messenger and, in some organisms, an extracellular signal. Starving cells release cyclic AMP pulses that recruit neighboring amoebae into aggregation.
Amoeba: A single-celled eukaryote that moves and feeds using changeable extensions of its cell membrane. Dictyostelium discoideum spends much of its life as an independent amoeba.
Model organism: A species studied intensively to understand biological processes that may apply to other organisms. Its short life cycle and genetic tools make it a laboratory model for cell biology.
Evolution of multicellularity: The evolutionary emergence of organisms composed of multiple interacting cells. Its temporary multicellular stages offer a comparative case for how multicellularity can evolve.
Chemotaxis: Directed cell or organism movement in response to a chemical gradient. Amoebae move toward cyclic AMP sources, enabling dispersed cells to gather.
Phagocytosis: Cellular uptake of particles by enclosing them within the cell membrane. The amoeba captures and ingests bacterial prey by phagocytosis.
Cell migration: The directed movement of cells from one location to another. Its migrating amoebae provide a system for studying movement and navigation at the cellular level.
Biological altruism: A behavior that benefits another organism or group while reducing the actor's direct fitness. Stalk cells sacrifice reproduction to help spores disperse, posing a problem for evolutionary explanations.
Cell differentiation: The process by which a cell acquires specialized structure and function. Aggregated cells specialize as spores or stalk cells during fruiting-body formation.
Bacteria: Single-celled prokaryotic organisms lacking a membrane-bound nucleus. Bacteria are the principal food source for the amoeba during its solitary phase.

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